Free Republic

Joe Biden and other Democrats promise to curtail U.S. domestic oil production, the northeastern United States could face a historic energy crisis as temperatures fall this winter, burdening an energy economy already beset by record-high prices and oil shortages. Signs of vulnerability in the Northeast have been apparent in recent months, Bloomberg reported, with retailers already rationing oil as stockpiles of diesel and heating oil are at a third of their normal levels. Those unfavorable conditions could bring about challenges to the Northeast's energy infrastructure that would be unprecedented in most Americans' lifetimes, according to Bloomberg: Add some cold to...

Fertilizer Giant Yara Slashes European Output As Energy Crisis Worsens.. Europe’s fertilizer supply crunch continues to tighten after Yara International ASA announced Thursday that third-quarter ammonia output was slashed due to skyrocketing natural gas prices, putting more upward pressure on food inflation as the cost-of-living crisis worsens. The Norwegian producer said ammonia output in the quarter dropped to 57% of capacity in Europe, plunging from 81% in the previous quarter. It warned output could collapse to just 35% if NatGas prices stay elevated through the cold season, according to Bloomberg. Russia’s squeeze on NatGas, Western sanctions on Moscow inhibiting energy...

Music video by Sammy Hagar performing I Can't Drive 55. (C) 1984 Geffen Records In 1974, the federal government passed the National Maximum Speed Law, which restricted the maximum permissible vehicle speed limit to 55 miles per hour (mph) on all interstate roads in the United States.1 The law was a response to the 1973 oil embargo, and its intent was to reduce fuel consumption.

Russia’s gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will not resume in full until the “collective west” lifts sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has said. Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, blamed EU, UK, and Canadian sanctions for Russia’s failure to deliver gas through the key pipeline, which delivers gas to Germany from St Petersburg via the Baltic sea. “The problems pumping gas came about because of the sanctions western countries introduced against our country and several companies,” Peskov said, according to the Interfax news agency. “There are no other reasons that...

The last time we had an energy crisis coupled with inflation (like we have right now) was the 1970s. Back then, President Lyndon Johnson had begun massive spending and took on huge budget deficits to pay for the Vietnam war and his “Great Society” benefits: Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, urban renewal, environmental issues, and new immigration policies, just to name a few. Sure sounds a lot like today, doesn’t it? Then…OPEC banned oil exports to the U.S. in October of 1973. Gas prices quickly shot up 37 percent. Gas was rationed. Many stations ran out. Others locked up their pumps...

Even before Russia invaded Ukraine, Germany’s decision to shut down its three remaining nuclear plants made no sense. But since the invasion Germany has very gradually been coming around to the idea that it might be time to reconsider those decisions. That’s especially true ever since Russia cut off most of the natural gas it was supplying to Russia in June.Today, it appears Germany has finally turned a corner. The Wall Street Journal reports plans to close the remaining nuclear plants are likely to be postponed.The decision has yet to be formally adopted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s cabinet and...

The Biden administration has sold nearly 6 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to an entity tied to the Chinese Communist Party, records show. From September 2021 to July, the Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded three crude oil contracts with a combined value of roughly $464 million to Unipec America, the U.S. trading arm of Chinese state-owned oil company Sinopec, according to a review by The Epoch Times of the DOE documents. A Chinese firm with ties to Hunter Biden had invested in the national oil giant. The sale would tap 5.9 million barrels in...

President Joe Biden’s administration is supporting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to ship natural gas pipeline equipment to Germany, which will lead to the European economic hub importing more Russian natural gas. State Department spokesman Ned Price expressed Washington’s support for the move in a statement Monday. Trudeau’s government plans to ship the equipment for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline back to Germany after it had been kept in Montreal due to sanctions on Russian gas, according to Bloomberg. The decision is aimed at preventing serious economic turmoil in Germany due to high energy prices.

The Polish government and state forestry agency have taken steps to make it easier for people to collect firewood, in an effort to ease the pressure created by soaring energy bills and shortages of coal. “It is always possible, with the consent of foresters, to collect branches for fuel,” reminded deputy climate and energy minister Edward Siarka last week. He noted that this year, amid “the war in Ukraine and turmoil on the energy market”, enquiries to local forestry units about obtaining permission to collect firewood have increased. “[Our] priority has been to ensure that local communities have precedence in...

According to politicians around the world, the Great Unwashed plebians should be grateful for the energy crisis. President Joe Biden recently declared that America is undergoing an “incredible transition” and we must suffer in order to reap the benefits. “Here’s the situation. And when it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,” Biden said. I have explained that the Biden Administration deliberately ruined America’s ability to be...

At a time when US officials are saying virtually every day that the US is in “active discussions” to ban Russian oil imports, Germany’s economy minister said that while he regrets the country is still dependent on imports from Moscow, he warned against a comprehensive ban on energy imports from Russia. As Dutesche Welle reports, “Germany is currently still dependent on Russian fossil fuels”, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday; he spoke out against a ban on energy imports from Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I would not advocate an embargo on Russian imports of...

Food Crisis Imminent: Hungary Bans All Grains Exports Effective Immediately (Update 1:25pm ET) – Those who have it, are no longer giving it away, and those that don't will soon find themselves in the middle of an epic food crisis. Just hours after we reported that Russia effectively banned exports of fertilizers, moments ago Hungary – one of Europe's most grain rich nations – has circled the wagons and realizing which way the wind is blowing, just announced that it will (begin) banning all grain exports effective immediately, in a statement . Expect wheat prices, already at record highs, to...

The upcoming polar plunge will cause temperatures across the northern United States to drop by as much as 50 degrees, during a time when war may break out in Europe. This is a reminder of how important affordable American energy sources are. Europe is weak because it is in the grip of an energy crisis with some prices soaring tenfold in the last two years. Europe depends for nearly 30% of its oil and gas supplies on Russia, while German manufacturing is particularly dependent for energy on Russia after environmentalists forced Germany to dismantle all 17 of its nuclear power...

Europe’s energy crisis has led to a shortage of natural gas supplies, and France could pay the price. French natural gas pipeline operator GRTgaz warned that gas stockpiles are much lower at this point in the year than they have been during years past. France's energy problems have been exacerbated by the lower-than-usual capacity at the country's nuclear power plants. ... The Brits aren't the only European nation to find itself on the verge of a full-blown energy crisis... French natural gas pipeline operator GRTgaz warned that French gas stockpiles are much lower at this point in the year than...

In a rare show of dissent, protests reached the authoritarian country’s biggest city, Almaty, after officials lifted price caps on liquefied petroleum gas. ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev accepted the government’s resignation on Wednesday, his office said, after violent protests set off by a fuel price increase rocked the oil-rich Central Asian country. Police used tear gas and stun grenades late on Tuesday to drive hundreds of protesters out of the main square in Almaty, the former Soviet republic’s biggest city, and clashes went on for hours in nearby areas. The protests shook the former Soviet republic’s image...

Neal Crabtree discusses the impact of the president's energy policies on 'FOX Business Tonight'

After a brief meeting on Thursday, the group approved a 400,000 barrel-a-day production hike for December. That’s a pace that major consumers say is too slow to sustain the post-Covid economic recovery, with the U.S. asking for as much as double that amount. The cartel could now face a bare-knuckle fight with the White House, amid growing speculation that the U.S. could tap emergency crude stockpiles in an effort to drive down prices. Crude futures erased most of their earlier gains, trading 0.4% higher at $81.16 a barrel as of 11:02 a.m. in New York. What happens in the coming...

Trump as the president worked to revive the coal mining industry because even though fewer and fewer power plants utilize the fossil fuel domestically, there is a massive global market for coal in the developing world. China and India, for instance, have voracious appetites for coal as most of their power plants coming online burn coal to generate power (and they do that because coal is far cheaper than natural gas and nuclear power). But because the Biden regime is being run by insane leftists whose agenda includes crashing the country so they can rebuild it in their Marxist image,...

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could outlaw wildfires? Or legislate against Polar Vortexes? That’s what California Governor Gavin Newsom is trying to do with carbon emissions from natural gas, the state’s largest generator of electricity. Just declare it zero-carbon and that’s that. At the end of September, Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 423, controversial legislation that considers natural gas a firm zero-carbon resource by default. But natural gas, a mixture of methane and other hydrocarbon gases, creates copious amounts of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide when burned – whether on a stove, in a furnace, or at a...

The largest power generating company in India, NTPC Ltd, is looking for bids to import at least one million tons of coal for the first time in two years, ... NTPC aims to use the imported coal at power plants that are located far from India’s coal mines, as the energy crisis has depleted coal stocks in the country. The first tender in two years for overseas coal supply highlights the shortage of the fuel in India, where coal is the major power generating fuel, accounting for 70 percent of total electricity generation. Currently, more than 91 percent of the...