Energy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Oil prices plummeted by 30% on Monday morning in Asia on news that Saudi Arabia intended actually to cut its prices and increase its production on April 1 to more than 10 million barrels a day. As a result, Asian markets also took a huge hit. Riyadh’s move came after […]

Bernie Sanders

Why the Russian Petro-state is actually terrified of a Bernie Sanders Presidency: The Green New Deal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused by Western intelligence agencies of seeking to interfere in the 2020 US elections in favor of Donald Trump on the right and in favor of Bernie Sanders on the left. But guess what, Russia doesn’t actually want Bernie to win. At all. Moscow […]

Climate Crisis

Methane Emissions Crisis and Rapid Global Heating: It is all Fossil Fuel Drilling and Fracking

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Many policy and scientific questions have the form of a Whodunnit. In what Umberto Eco called the “closed” mystery, the aftermath of a crime is described by the novelist but the identity and the motives of the killer are not known. A big mystery is where all the methane in […]

Denialism

How Louisiana Lawmakers Stop Residents’ Efforts to Fight Big Oil and Gas

ProPublica

Louisiana has pioneered ways for other states to discourage environmental protests around “critical infrastructure” projects. Much of it can be traced back to efforts by corporate lobbyists.

Climate Crisis

Congress Needs to Step up on Climate Emergency, Support Clean Energy and cut Big Oil Subsidies

Amanda Millstein

The climate crisis is here. It is real and it is hurting our health. As physicians in Northern California, my colleagues and I see how climate change is making our patients sicker every day. We see infants and children with worsening asthma due to wildfire smoke exposure. We see adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease […]

Climate Crisis

Top Four Ways to abolish the Gasoline Car and Go Electric in 15 Years

The Conversation

By Ashley Fly | – The UK government recently pledged to bring forward a ban on new diesel and petrol car sales from 2040, to 2035. The move surprised some, but perhaps most surprising was the confirmation that the ban will also include hybrid vehicles, which use a combustion engine running on fossil fuel and […]

Climate Crisis

Cramer: “We’re in the Death Knell Phase” of Big Oil, as 44% of Norway New Autos are Electric

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – CNBC stock picker Jim Cramer startled his conservative fan base this week by refusing to push ExxonMobil and other petroleum stocks. He solemnly informed his audience that he is “done” with fossil fuel securities. He pointed out that pension funds all over the world are divesting from them because of […]

Climate Crisis

Coalxit? Germany, 4th Largest Economy, Officially Approves Phase-Out of Coal

Clean Energy Wire

By Benjamin Wehrmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire) – The German government has officially approved the end of coal-fired power production in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet adopted a law detailing plant shutdowns and compensation payments for coal companies, confirming a commission proposal made last year to end coal no later than 2038. The […]

Featured

Read it and Weep, Moscow Mitch: 100 MW of Solar to be bought by Kentucky Coal-Country Utilities for Toyota

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The East Kentucky utilities Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas & Electric have applied for permission from state regulators to buy electricity from a 100-megawatt solar facility. The utilities, which ordinarily purvey power from dirty coal (80% of their generation), were pressured by Toyota and Dow, who in turn are trying […]