Environment

Germany Backslides

Featured image The world was startled and impressed two weeks ago when Germany announced in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that it would increase its defense spending substantially, keep some coal-fired power plants running that would otherwise have been replaced with Russian natural gas, and rethink its plan to shut down its remaining nuclear power plants. Well, they’ve done their rethinking on nuclear power, and decided—”Never mind: we’re going »

Climatistas Officially Declare Themselves Brain Dead

Featured image You know how the left likes to go on and on about how Republicans are “anti-science”? Well sit back and take in this story, which reveals this claim to be another example of leftist projection. Way back in 1993, David Brower, the late “arch-druid” (John McPhee’s phrase) of environmentalism, placed this full page ad in the New York Times: What you can’t read in the small print is that this »

Environmentalists vs. Science

Featured image That is an evergreen headline; here is today’s instance. The Environmental Protection Agency has banned the use of the herbicide Enlist Duo in six Minnesota farm counties. Why? The chemicals in Enlist Duo are apparently harmful to the eastern massasauga rattlesnake. Only problem: there are no eastern massasauga rattlesnakes in those counties, and never have been. My colleague Tom Steward reports: The Environmental Protection Agency’s latest overreach in enforcing the »

Latest From the Dreamworld of Green Energy

Featured image A core axiom of “green energy” is that it is actually cheaper than fossil fuels, because “the wind and sunlight are free.” The Rocky Mountain Institute argues with a straight face that “the faster the world deploys renewables, the more money we will save in energy costs.” Tell that to Denmark, which generates half its electricity from wind power, but has the second highest electricity rates in Europe. Or California, with »

Virginia traffic jam provides reminder of limitations of electric cars

Featured image Scott has already mentioned the 48-mile traffic backup that occurred in Northern Virginia yesterday. Reportedly, cars were stopped on I-95 for more than 24 hours in freezing temperatures. It must have been awful, but it could have been worse. And, as Charles Lane explains, it would have been much worse if there had been many more electric vehicles (EVs) in the traffic jam. Lane writes: Sometime after 3 a.m. Tuesday. »

Notable Video: The Latest from Kite & Key

Featured image I believe we have previously referenced Kite & Key Media, which specializes in short informative video treatments of current issues, drawing from mainstream data sources but going deeper than the usual cliches of CNN. Two news ones recommend themselves this week—the first on the limits of renewable energy (a lesson we need to relearn every few hours it seems), and a review of 2021, especially the madness and misinformation about »

Talking back to Sen. Warren

Featured image Lyin’ Lizzie Warren sent out a set of letters berating major U.S. oil and gas producers for restraining production, increasing exports and “putting their massive profits, share prices and dividends for investors, and millions of dollars in CEO pay and bonuses” ahead of Americans. According to Warren, “These record-setting natural gas exports are leading to higher prices for consumers, and they show no signs of a slowdown.” I am quoting »

The Biden DOJ’s lawless “environmental justice” investigation of Alabama

Featured image The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has announced that it opened an “environmental justice” investigation into the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Lowndes County Health Department. The DOJ’s press release states that the Civil Rights Division will examine whether the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Lowndes County Health Department operate their onsite wastewater disposal program and infectious diseases and outbreaks program in a manner that discriminates »

Speaking of methane

Featured image President Biden emitted a massive amount of verbal methane in his press conference on the second day of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Listening to him, I thought a mind is a terrible thing to lose. Biden has made himself a member in good standing of what Melanie Phillips calls “The tragi-comic climate doomsday cult.” Here is a paragraph I have taken more or less at random from »

Water, Water Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink?

Featured image It is long past time to check in with our friends at Kite & Key Media, a new venture founded and helmed by Vanessa Mendoza and Troy Senik. They are producing a series of snappy, short videos on current topics, and their most recent video below explains why there is something seriously stupid about having water shortages, even under drought conditions. Hint: Remember the old joke about how if the »

The Squad Descends On Minnesota [Updated]

Featured image It isn’t easy to assemble the entire Squad in one place, but reportedly it happened today in Minneapolis. The Squad held a press conference to demand that President Biden revoke the permit to construct Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 replacement pipeline. As usual, the activists’ claims are hysterical: The press conference came days after a letter from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination requested that the federal »

Sierra Club head resigns. Why?

Featured image On Friday, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, resigned. He had been in charge of the organization for 11 years. Politico calls the resignation a “major blow to the U.S. environmental movement and the Democratic Party’s green base.” Why did Brune quit? He didn’t say. However, he apologized “for any instance” in which staff and volunteers of the Sierra Club did not “feel safe, supported and valued.” Brune »

Wind and Solar Energy Are Environmental Disasters

Featured image It is ironic that wind and solar energy are promoted as “green,” when in fact one of their worst qualities is the damage they do to the environment. Solar panels are manufactured in China using slave labor (Uighurs) and coal-fired power plants for electricity. The irony is heavy. And both wind and solar require vast quantities of minerals and hazardous substances. A fundamental problem with wind and solar is that »

It’s Time to Shoot Bambi

Featured image In many suburban neighborhoods, deer now rival raccoons as pests. I take this personally because deer have been ravaging our flower gardens this year, but I have never understood why deer seem to like gardens so much. After all, we live in a lush part of the world with plenty of rainfall and lots of open space. So why do the deer love suburbs? This Wall Street Journal article confirmed »

From the Archives: Save Farmland—Drive a Car

Featured image I ran across another old column of mine from 1999 that never appeared online anywhere and which I think holds up pretty well in some ways, so why not? Save Farmland—Drive a Car WASHINGTON DC—If memory serves me correctly, there was a book out a few years back with the title Monster Trucks and Hair in a Can: Who Says America Doesn’t Make Anything Anymore?  This title came back to »

Finally—Some Real Excitement at a Soccer Match!

Featured image Power Line’s sports desk (Paul) is covering the Euro 2020 soccer tournament, but at the risk of annoying him with my soccer denialism, I want to bring to readers’ attention some real excitement yesterday in Munich, when a Greenpeace stuntman seriously injured two spectators, and ripped up the overhead “spidercam,” with a parachute jump into the stadium ostensibly intended as some kind of incoherent climate protest. The Daily Mail has a »

Oh Goody—It’s Earth Day!

Featured image Everyone’s favorite pagan holiday has rolled around again: It’s Earth Day! Of course, the religion of environmentalism now has to compete with the religion of anti-racism to get attention, so expect that there will be lots of talk today about “environmental racism” to tie the two together. When dealing with a fundamentalist religion it does no good to point out the facts and data about improving environmental conditions, or the »