Boondoggle
| Gaming the system is what “smart” businesses do these days. The report quoted below is from the ICN Sunday Morning newsletter. Read and weep. —————————— Liquefied natural gas vessels are fueled by their cargo—they’re built specifically to make use of the gas boiling off from their tanks. But Cheniere Energy, the largest U.S. exporter of LNG, requested “alternative fuel” tax credits for that. The claim baffled shipping experts, because what Cheniere Energy is doing isn’t, in any real sense, an alternative. It also provides little climate benefit over fueling the vessels with diesel and uses the credit in a way that tax specialists say was never intended. Yet the Internal Revenue Service approved a $370 million payout to the company, a huge windfall that Phil and Peter predicted in an exclusive investigation earlier this year. Now, a group of seven Senate Democrats have launched a probe over the controversial tax credits and financial boon to Cheniere Energy. Phil and Peter explain the debate over the tax credits, the complicated calculations they used to estimate Cheniere’s payout, and how this case fits into their larger investigation into the hidden climate costs of exporting liquefied natural gas. |
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Energy Demand Increase Stokes Fracking
Politics and Fracking (Opinion)
Fracking is Harmful
We shouldn’t need to repeat the message, but so often it seems that our legislators are dazzled by promises of unearned wealth and prosperity gushing out of a hole in the ground, they forget that we regulate this sort of thing because it damages us. When an activity is harmless, we usually let it be. When there is a hazard to life, health, or community well-being, then we constrain the offending action. Fracking is harmful it both the short and long term.
A Hot Fracking Mess: The Harms of PA’s Gas Industry
Trump’s pro-fracking policy will boost an industry that threatens us with radioactive pollution. State leaders must stand up for PA.
Keep it in the ground.
Necessary >> Eternal Vigilance
Commission got it right: Keep fracking waste out of water supply
In May, the New Mexico Water Quality Commission banned the discharge of fracking wastewater, whether treated or not, off an oil field. The decision — months in the making —
There are a lot of clever people who are well paid to keep chipping away at the regulations and regulators who protect our environment. In my view, they lack conscience and are without honor. But so long as the money if offered, they are relentless in their efforts. Defenders must be vigilant and vocal.
