The island may boast only 1,300 residents, but it handles more than its fair share of problems. Perpetually battered by big storms, the community has faced power outages where even the backup generators failed.
Post
Low-Energy Fridays: Should independent regulators be subject to the White House?
President Donald J. Trump recently issued a new executive order (EO) that will require “independent agencies” to submit their rulemaking to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. Interestingly (but unsurprisingly), this led to a deluge of news articles and quotes from opponents of the administration decrying the move as a power grab and part of an anti-regulatory agenda....
Post
Wine Enthusiasts Poised to Adapt to Changing Climates
Changing climate doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone everywhere. To some, warming will mean that already hot places will become even more temperature-challenged. To others, it might actually create new opportunities for things like growing food and new crops.
Post
What’s Going On With the Grizzly Bear Listing?
After recent petitions from states to delist the bears, the federal government has announced that grizzly bears will remain protected under the ESA. Here’s what’s going on and what the near future looks like for American grizzlies:
Post
Trump Starts Energy Dominance Drive With White House Council
President Donald Trump ordered the creation of a White House council focused on steering the US toward “energy dominance,” with the promise of action as soon as next week. “We have more energy than any other country, and now we are unleashing it,” Trump said Friday in the Oval Office as he signed an executive order commissioning...
Post
Beer, not tariffs, will boost US aluminum capacity
If in doubt, double down. Seven years ago President Donald Trump ordered 10% tariffs on US imports of aluminum with the stated aim of increasing domestic primary metal production. They haven’t worked. This time the tariff is going to be 25% without “exceptions or exemptions” effective March 4. Together with a similar-sized duty on steel imports,...
Post
Trump’s Energy Czar Can Unleash Energy Dominance With Carbon Capture
Last week, the Senate voted to confirm former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior. As Secretary and expected chair of the soon-to-be-established National Energy Council, Burgum has promised to follow President Trump’s directive to increase oil and gas production. But, if Burgum’s unique record is any indication, his approach might also involve carbon...
Post
Meet Chris Wright, Donald Trump’s Energy Evangelist
The GOP has spent the many hot years of Washington’s climate wars on defense, unable to articulate a positive alternative to the left’s grim new religion. It’s offered critiques—climate change isn’t real; climate change is overhyped; climate policies are costly, ineffective, stalking horses for government control—but never a rousing alternative. Into this unholy war steps...
Post
With Trump 2.0, These Climate Donors Are Thinking Differently
Three days after President Trump formally ordered a U.S. departure from the Paris Agreement, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced that it would step in alongside other unnamed donors to cover the country’s funding and disclosure obligations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, whose job it is to implement the climate deal made in the French capital...
Post
Low-Energy Fridays: Is the National Energy Council a good idea?
After his electoral victory, President Donald J. Trump announced the formation of a “National Energy Council” that will coordinate energy and environment-related activities within the administration—though the specifics of when this may arrive and in what form are still unknown. This prompts two thoughts: First, this is going to make for very confusing acronyms since the...
