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If there ever was an indication that the 'existential threat of climate change' was little more than a political slogan, the fact that the Dems have literally dropped it from their talking points should be proof enough.
Politico (1/25/26) reports: "In recent years, Democrats have been handwringing over the best messaging on environmental issues to reach an electorate that cares about 'kitchen table' matters – and doesn’t uniformly consider the rapidly warming planet to be one of them. Environmentalists made a strong argument during the 2024 presidential campaign that the climate crisis should be a motivator in electing Kamala Harris — but the contest went to Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Republicans have picked up on the Democrats’ shift in talking points and have used it to their advantage. 'You actually see on the left, this debate going on right now, where a lot of people within the Democratic Party, they are talking about how they’ve lost the narrative, or the culture war, on climate,' EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said on Fox Business this month. Left-leaning thinkers and independent analysts have also argued that Democrats may have gone too far in following the lead of environmental groups they say were out of touch with most Americans."
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Crying to Europe is never a good look, but it's especially bad when the goal is to undermine the legal system.
EU Today (1/28/26) reports: "Notably, there has been the court case in the Netherlands whereby in 2021, the district court in The Hague, at the request of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Milieudefensie, ruled that Shell had to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019. A new development is NGOs pursuing legal avenues in Europe after losing in U.S. courts. Such a 'transatlantic legal backdoor' is deemed to risk undermining judicial sovereignty and it has been rattling the US business community. Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, highlights the implications of this, as he writes: 'European courts [could be asked] to nullify verdicts of American juries and American judges.' He adds a warning about the potential consequences: 'If groups such as Greenpeace are granted de facto immunity from European courts to break American laws, their tactics would almost certainly become more violent and more damaging.'"
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Denied!
The Associated Press (1/28/26) reports: "ConocoPhillips Alaska can proceed with an oil and gas exploration program in a portion of a vast petroleum reserve in the state after a federal judge denied a request from project opponents to halt it. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason rejected a request by conservation groups and an Iñupiat-aligned group that sought to halt ConocoPhillips Alaska’s planned exploration program in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska until the groups’ legal challenge to the program’s authorization by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management was resolved. The decision comes after a mobile drilling rig the company planned to use as part of its program toppled onto snow-covered tundra near existing oil and gas infrastructure while being transported last week. Attorneys for the company in a court filing said the incident would not deter ConocoPhillips Alaska’s overall plans and that a substitute drill rig would be used."
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Physician, heal thyself!
The New York Times (1/28/26) opinion: "The people responsible for the country’s electricity grid have been working overtime, asking for more government help than usual and maxing out some power plants. They have thankfully avoided disaster so far — and while more than a million Americans lost power in the past week, those outages were mostly caused by snow and ice breaking poles and wires, not by demand exceeding supply. Winter is an increasingly brittle moment for the grid and for our energy infrastructure, and it’s time for politicians, utilities and the public to wake up. The United States needs more energy to get through the cold snaps of the future. The question is where it will come from — and whether it will raise or lower climate-heating emissions."
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"We're standing up for our national interest by driving for clean energy, which can get the UK off the fossil fuel rollercoaster and give us energy sovereignty."
– UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband
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Average Daily Coal Generation 2021-2026
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2026 Environmental Quality Index
Institute for Energy Research (1/15/26) research: "The 2026 Environmental Quality Index (EQI) highlights the United States as a leading energy producer while maintaining high environmental and human freedom standards. Far from harming the planet, America’s energy abundance delivers more global economic growth and genuine environmental progress than equivalent production from any other country. The 2026 Environmental Quality Index (EQI) highlights the United States as a leading energy producer while maintaining high environmental and human freedom standards. Far from harming the planet, America’s energy abundance delivers more global economic growth and genuine environmental progress than equivalent production from any other country."
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Energy Markets
WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $66.10
Natural Gas: ↑↓ $3.86
Gasoline: ↓ $2.87
Diesel: ↑ $3.60
Heating Oil: ↓ $264.78
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $71.46
US Rig Count: ↑ 580 |
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