Pressure from energy industry interests is unrelenting. We must be vigilant and active to prevent the damage that inevitably results from fracking. Keep it in the ground.
A new study of the 2023 wildfires that hit forested regions of Canada found that the drifting smoke from those blazes was responsible for a three percent drop in solar power generation in not only the United States but also Europe. The generation drop cost $2 billion, of which $711 million was lost in the United States, and $1.17 billion was lost in Europe, mostly Germany.
| 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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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.
Keep it in the ground.
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.
