Energy

Interactive art at the RI Dept. of Labor

Are we allowed to point out obvious truths about Putin, RI labor unions, progressives, and energy?

By Justin Katz | March 3, 2022 |

I don’t want to make too much of this, but sometimes we have to put the obvious on the table.  Otherwise, we’re apt to wander off in dense forests of complexity because we reject the ability to see in an open field. Journalistic writer Michael Shellenberger makes the so-obvious-it’s-easy-to-ignore point that the West’s throttling down…

A water drop and ripples

The United States is hobbling itself and its economy when it comes to energy.

By Justin Katz | February 28, 2022 |

As an emboldened Vladimir Putin causes mayhem on the global stage, it’s important to remember how much our own government is harming the prospects of the United States, as if deliberately humbling our country to bring us down: Upcoming federal oil and gas lease sales will be delayed as the Interior Department figures out how…

Solar farm in North Smithfield

Let’s start making the obvious connections between environmentalist news stories.

By Justin Katz | February 23, 2022 |

Whether I’ve been failing or succeeding, all these years, I’ll leave to others to judge, but one of my core objectives has always been to foster the habit of making the sorts of connections that are too often covered over for political reasons.  Let’s look at a big one. Perhaps with the mixed motivation of…

John Kerry on NowThis

Is Kerry on NowThis a sign of progressive decay?

By Justin Katz | February 2, 2022 |

The world’s got trouble!  With a capital T, and that rhymes with C, and that stands for “coal.” My obvious reference to a once-famous song from The Music Man is tuned to have just about as much appeal to a young audience as a characteristically droning video clip from John Kerry about the need for — you…

A water drop and ripples

The United States has so much energy potential.

By Justin Katz | December 22, 2021 |

The current occupant of the White House may have dialed our nation’s capacity to generate sources of energy, but at least our system for handling its shipment and export is moving forward: The United States is on course to have the world’s biggest exporting capacity of liquified natural gas (LNG) by 2022, surpassing Qatar and…

Burning $100 bills

Reality killed TCI.

By Justin Katz | December 8, 2021 |

Activist-paid-as-academic Timmons Roberts of Brown University rends his garments in the Boston Globe that the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI; i.e., another layer of gas tax) never managed to ignite.  The question of his headline is, “Who killed the TCI?,” which I’ve already answered.  In a word, it was Biden, who quickly drove up the cost…

A water drop and ripples

I may have to open another account with Chase.

By Justin Katz | November 30, 2021 |

ecoRI news celebrates activist Brian Wilder for spending his time harassing Chase Bank.  Apparently, by treating energy companies as, you know, real businesses, the bank  is “funding mass extinction and the climate crisis.”  Who knew? The fossil fuel industry may not give climate advocates a second thought, but it is harder for banks to shake off…

Cooling towers at Brayton Point

Keep track as progressive laws tangle Rhode Islanders and our economy up.

By Justin Katz | November 23, 2021 |

Gregory Booth, who works with the advocacy section of Rhode Island’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) makes a reasonable point when he suggests that it might not be in our state’s best interest to have National Grid sell its Ocean State electrical distribution business to another company that lacks its cross-state infrastructure, but that isn’t why…

A man with a mirror mask

Politics This Week with John DePetro: A Revealing Week

By Justin Katz | November 22, 2021 |

John and Justin cover lots of ground in this content-rich discussion of political news in the Ocean State.

A man fuels his car

RI dodged a notch of the progressive ratchet with the collapse of TCI.

By Justin Katz | November 22, 2021 |

I’ve been engaging in a back-and-forth discussion with a childhood acquaintance concerning the costs of public schools, trying to convey that the system is set up like a ratchet. When operating costs go up — for electricity, say — school districts insist that they cannot absorb the hit and pass it along to taxpayers.  It’s…