Shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, February 23, President Biden reinstated the sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that he had waived only last year. Depending on what side of the political divide you...more
3/14/2022
/ China ,
Climate Change ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Fracking ,
Germany ,
Joe Biden ,
Marcellus Shale ,
NATO ,
Oil & Gas ,
Paris Agreement ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
Last weekend, Ottawa police cleared the streets of the Canadian capital of the trucks that had parked themselves downtown for the better part of a week. There were dramatic confrontations, but thankfully little...more
When Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine to go conquer that democracy, all of the abstract concepts about energy ended. While not quite a Pearl Harbor moment in terms of instantaneous ideological shift, Putin's...more
3/14/2022
/ Bad Actors ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
Exports ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
Nuclear Weapons ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
Last week, President Joe Biden warned Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky that a Russian invasion of Ukraine might be imminent. While Zelensky does not seem to share that assessment, full scale war in Eastern Europe seems...more
1/31/2022
/ Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Fracking ,
Germany ,
Marcellus Shale ,
NATO ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pennsylvania ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
If 2020 was the year of the great energy disconnect, 2021 was the year the people carrying out the energy debate appeared to be living on different planets, floating aimlessly through time and space and never intersecting...more
12/30/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Coal ,
Electricity ,
Energy Sector ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Hydropower ,
Keystone XL Pipeline ,
Natural Gas ,
Price Inflation ,
Renewable Energy ,
Russia ,
Severe Weather ,
Ukraine
Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) reached a milestone in July when it took itself completely off the local power grid, establishing its own microgrid based on on-site natural gas wells, as well as solar power. In doing...more
During a press briefing on Friday afternoon, State Department spokesman Ned Price abruptly changed the subject from the disastrous pullout in Afghanistan to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
A Russian ship, the Ostap Sheremeta,...more
8/30/2021
/ Afghanistan ,
Biden Administration ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Germany ,
Keystone XL Pipeline ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
On Wednesday, June 29, the United States Supreme Court handed down one of its most important decisions in years. In the case of PennEast Pipeline Company, LLC v. New Jersey, et al., by a narrow 5-4 margin, the Court affirmed...more
For nearly a month, Enbridge, Inc., a Canadian oil and gas pipeline company, has been operating its Line 5 pipeline in defiance of an order from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to shut down Line 5’s operations effective...more
May 26, 2021 was the day the energy world changed.
On the same day that a Dutch court in The Hague ruled that Royal Dutch Shell could be held liable for climate change and ordered it to reduce its greenhouse gas...more
The drive to litigate public policy over climate change took some hits the last two weeks in the United States Supreme Court. First, last Monday in the case of Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. BP P. L. C. et al.,...more
5/26/2021
/ Appeals ,
Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
FERC ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Material Adverse Effects ,
Oil & Gas ,
Public Policy ,
SCOTUS
The dispute over the controversial oil and gas pipeline known as “Nord Stream 2” ended on Wednesday when the United States Department of State announced that the Biden administration was waiving sanctions against the...more
For more than a week Israel and Hamas have been battering each other with rocket fire coming from Hamas in Gaza and airstrikes coming from Israel. The destruction and loss of human life are appalling – from both sides of the...more
In the disruption that followed shutting down the Colonial Pipeline due to a “ransomware” attack, the energy policy of the fledgling Biden Administration, and of its key supporters, devolved into incoherence and outright...more
On Wednesday, April 28, a major component of the legal battle in the fight over interstate oil and gas pipelines will reach a climax. In Washington, D.C., the United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case...more
The geo-political folly that is the Nord Stream 2 pipeline – designed to convey natural gas directly from Russia to Germany in the Baltic Sea – came into sharper focus this week. As work on the highly controversial pipeline...more
Frozen in time, immortalized in a picture in the vestibule in the Palestra, Steve Bilsky rose up for a shot with three seconds remaining against Villanova. The date was January 15, 1969. Then as now, Villanova was a national...more
On Thursday, February 25, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will vote on whether to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin, or not. Given the current composition of the DRBC, it is likely that the ban will pass. If...more
Last week, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the legal dispute that has stymied completion of the proposed $1 Billion PennEast Pipeline from the Marcellus Shale gas fields of Northeastern Pennsylvania to Central...more
On February 3, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier proclaimed that Germany had exceeded its target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to 1990 levels. Despite clearly being aided by the deep economic slump...more
2/11/2021
/ Climate Change ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EU ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Germany ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Pipelines ,
Renewable Energy ,
Russia
President Biden’s first move on energy internationally likely will be one of his most unfortunate actions - rejoining the Paris Climate Accords. Unfortunately, he will have no choice, since he has consistently pledged to do...more
1/15/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Canada ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Sector ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Fracking ,
Green Deal ,
International Relations ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Paris Agreement ,
Pipelines ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
Turkey ,
Venezuela
When President Biden takes office on January 20, among the many other obstacles, issues and problems that he will need to deal with is an impending polar vortex that meteorologists now predict will descend upon the United...more
1/12/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Domestic Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Foreign Policy ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Fracking ,
Infrastructure ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Natural Disasters ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Polar Vortex ,
Renewable Energy ,
Russia
2020 obviously will be the Year of the Pandemic. However, when it comes to energy, 2020 will also be known as the Year of the Great Disconnect. Thanks to the COVID-19 Pandemic, never have fossil fuels been more important...more
...As the Biden Administration prepares to take office with a platform pledging both to respect science and to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreements, a review of the actual data appears in order.
Starting from a baseline on...more
...The absurdity of the current United States pipeline permitting process was on full display last week in two nearby states in the Upper Midwest.
On Thursday, Enbridge, the Canadian pipeline company, received notice from...more