Methane is a harmless gas that is emitted by a number of natural sources.  There is no reason to impose costly environmental restrictions on business and industry to reduce the production of methane gas.  Methane is one component of the 'greenhouse effect' in the atmosphere, but global warming is not a problem.  All greenhouse gases are essential to life on Earth.  Legislative regulations will not reduce or eliminate natural sources of methane, but they will put the brakes on the U.S. economy.

Before you get too eager to eliminate methane emissions — at a tremendous cost and inconvenience to everyone — you should first be aware of various natural (unstoppable) sources of methane. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Also take note of the unstoppable fire is in the Darvaza Gas Crater in Derweze, Turkmenistan.

Unfounded concerns about natural gas and methane:

We thought trees emitted methane, but instead they absorb it.  (What else don't we know?)  Methane is supposedly 80 times more powerful as CO2 over the short term, and we are already feeding our cows seaweed and dubious additives like Bovaer® to reduce it, and we're trying to make steaks in labs, and create burgers out of crickets.  But it turns out, the experts were wrong, yet again, and trees are absorbing more methane than they emit.  So just like that, there is a major new sink to remove methane from the air, and it's been there all the time.  The funny thing is that for years everyone was measuring the air at the bottom of the tree trunk and finding methane emissions, but when Vincent Gauci et al measured 1 [to] 2 metres further up the tree, not only did the methane emissions shrink to nothing, the gas started to disappear from the air around the trunk.  Apparently bacteria under the bark were dining on the methane.  The team looked at trees in Brazil, Panama, United Kingdom and Sweden and estimate that all the world[']s trees might already be absorbing as much as 50 million tons of methane, about as much as" is coming out of all the world[']s landfill sites", or roughly equivalent to half the world[']s cows.

UK Government 'Commits' to Forcing Cattle to Consume Anti-Flatulence Feed Additive.  The last time I reported on Bovaer, the anti-methane additive now being used in cattle feed, citizens in the United Kingdom were staging a boycott.  People now recognize that carbon dioxide (CO2) is a life-essential gas and methane is a critical part of the finely tuned biogenic carbon cycle.  Consumers are also alarmed by the introduction of a supplement to animals, with no consideration given to the long-term effects of humans consuming meat and dairy products from animals that eat the additives.  Now the UK government is pushing a mandate that is all 'suitable' British cattle will be given methane-reducing chemical Bovaer or Bovaer-like products by law by 2030.  A Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) document that details the plan to mandate the use of 'methane-suppressing feed products' in English cattle has sparked concern on social media — due to claims the substance can leach into dairy, causing health problems.

Vox Gets Almost Everything Wrong in Its Report on Measuring Cow 'Emissions'.  The rhetoric coming from climate scolds in the media just seems to get more outlandish by the day.  We've reported in the past how emissions of methane from cows are apparently a desperate issue if you believe these folks.  But then, everything seems to be a desperate issue with climate scolds these days — except, perhaps, for Leonardo DiCaprio's mega-yacht, the Obamas' oceanfront mansion, or John Kerry's private jet.  Intellectual consistency isn't a really high priority for these people.  But then, that seems to be a hallmark of the left these days.  This brings us to the leftist outlet Vox, who has been reporting some evaluation of cow "emissions," and doing a little panic-mongering into the bargain.  The problem?  They predictably get almost everything wrong.  On the "Climate Realism" website, the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy's Linnea Lueken has the receipts. [...] Part of what Vox doesn't understand (and that's a lengthy list) involves the nature of methane and its half-life in the atmosphere — which, one would think, would be something that should be added to the evaluation.

Bill Gates wants to fight 'climate change' by vaccinating cows to stop them from emitting methane.  Microsoft founder and left-wing philanthropist Bill Gates is still brainstorming ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by manipulating cow flatulence, he shared in a recent interview with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.  On the October 30 episode of Hoffman's "Possible" podcast, Gates explained that while work is ongoing to make cow-less meat more appetizing, in the meantime, "many" other solutions are being pursued to the "problem" of the methane emitted by cows as a result of digesting the grass they feed on, which climate activists claim is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

The Editor says...
Water vapor is also "a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide," but Mr. Gates isn't wasting any time (or money) fighting water vapor, which comes from the oceans and rivers in massive quantities.  Methane comes from natural sources.  "Climate change" is inevitable and also comes from natural sources, such as the variable output power of the Sun.  Bill Gates can affect a lot of things, but the weather should not be one of them.

Bill Gates & Jeff Bezos Push for 'Climate Vaccines' in Food Supply.  Billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are funding schemes that seek to fight "global warming" by using "climate vaccines" in the food supply.  Gates and Bezos are pushing plans to vaccinate livestock animals destined for human consumption to supposedly reduce "methane emissions."  Bezos, the founder of online retail giant Amazon, is investing $9.4 million to develop a "climate vaccine."  The "vaccine" is designed to reduce the number of methane-producing microbes in a cow's stomach, Agriland reported.

The Editor says...
One of us does not know what a vaccine is, and it isn't me.

Biden, on His Way Out the Door, Slams Energy Sector With Methane Tax.  Has anyone informed Joe Biden that he's leaving the White House in January?  Plenty of outgoing presidents have indeed taken a few last shots, sometimes literally on their way out the door; that seems to be a favored time for signing pardons, for instance.  But in one such move that's something of a head-scratcher, Joe Biden is imposing a new tax on the oil and gas industry — this one on methane emissions. [...] The fee won't continue to rise, of course, because in January, Lee Zeldin will be taking over the EPA.  Another aspect of this that's a trifle baffling is that even some climate change doomsayers are saying it won't have much effect.

The Editor says...
Joe Biden is a senile old man, and although he's mean enough and petty enough to throw a wrench into the Trump machine, he probably isn't the one who came up with this idea.  Because it sounds exactly like something Barack H. Obama would do — and Obama did leave a bunch of stink bombs for Trump eight years ago.

Who Really Cares About Climate Change?  While [the 2024 presidential] race was about many things, one issue lurked throughout: climate policy.  And the results clearly show that the Democratic Party is woefully out of step with mainstream voters on energy and climate policy.  But the national results are only one aspect of the voting public's repudiation of the Left's climate policies.  On Tuesday, ballot initiatives on taxing or restricting natural gas use — one in Washington state and the other in Berkeley, California — lost decisively.  As I noted in these pages a few days ago, the Biden administration has been imposing restrictions on the use of natural gas in homes and buildings.  They are marching to the tune of a phalanx of dark-money NGOs, including Rewiring America, Rocky Mountain Institute, Sierra Club, and others.  The NGOs are pushing their agenda despite consumers across the country consistently showing their desire to continue using gas, which, as the Department of Energy's own numbers have shown, is the cheapest form of residential energy.

Washington State Voters Pass Initiative to Protect Natural Gas Stoves.  Voters in Washington State have approved a referendum known as Initiative 2066, which would block state and local authorities from limiting access to natural gas stoves and appliances, which environmental groups have tried to do. [...] In 2023, New York State became the first in the nation to ban natural gas in new buildings.  A similar ban in Berkeley, California, was tossed out by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, saying it preempted state and federal authorities.  The Biden administration also took up the cause, as Breitbart News reported, noting that the federal government was considering regulatory steps that would eliminate most commercially available gas stoves from the market.

CBS News urges you to 'combat climate change' by 'leaving the leaves' in your yard instead of raking & sending to landfills.  CBS News anchor:  Leave the leaves this fall.  CBS News New York's Vanessa Murdock covers climate and explains why letting leaves lie is good for your yard and the environment.  CBS News reporter Vanessa Murdock: "According to (David Mizejewski — naturalist, National Wildlife Federation), leaving the leaves can also help combat climate change. it takes them out of landfills."  David Mizejewski — naturalist, National Wildlife Federation: "Underground with no oxygen, they break down and produce methane, which is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide is."

The Editor says...
Rotting leaves are not unique to residential yards.  All the forests in the world have leaves on the ground, and they will inevitably get wet and decay and emit byproducts into the atmosphere.  Whatever actions you take in your little fraction of an acre will have no effect at all on the climate.  You aren't going to save the earth by abstaining from raking leaves.

Biden-Harris Admin Accused Of Deceiving America On Its Way To Freezing Gas Exports.  The Biden-Harris administration may have based its decision to freeze certain liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects upon a major act of deception, according to a government watchdog group.  The Department of Energy (DOE) announced the pause on new and pending approvals for certain LNG export terminals in January, stating that it must conduct a review of potential environmental, economic and security impacts of LNG exports to ensure that approving new capacity is still in the public interest.  An ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) legal battle between the agency and an independent group called Government Accountability and Oversight (GAO) reveals that the administration may have actually conducted — or started to conduct — such a review in 2023 before effectively burying it because it may have been producing politically inconvenient conclusions, according to GAO.

In Australia:
NT Beetaloo Basin has enough gas to 'supply Australia for the next 400 years', company says.  The head of a company developing gas in the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Basin says the "huge" resource has the potential to transform the Australian energy market, lowering gas prices and reducing emissions.  Empire Energy managing director Alex Underwood told Sky News his company expected to produce the first gas from the Beetaloo by mid-2025.  "Just in the next five or six weeks we'll be drilling our first full-scale pilot development well and then all things going well, we'll be installing the gas processing plant just after the wet season and commencing production from the Beetaloo from the middle of next year," he said.  The Beetaloo Basin is an onshore gas field about 500 kilometres south of Darwin that covers an area of about 28,000 square kilometres — almost the size of Belgium.

California bill mandating health warning labels on gas stove sales passes in state legislature.  Gas powered stoves in California could now come with a health warning label similar to what you'd find on a pack of cigarettes or other tobacco products, according to a new proposed law in the state.  California lawmakers passed a bill at the end of August that would make it illegal to sell a gas stove that is manufactured or sold online on or after Jan. 1, 2025, or sold in a store on or after Jan. 1, 2026, "unless the gas stove bears an adhesive label attached in a conspicuous location," according to the text of the bill.  Gov. Gavin Newsom has until the end of September to sign the bill into law, NPR reported.

Is Climate Change Fanaticism the Greatest Killer of All Time?  How many people are dying each year from climate change lunacy?  The left's immoral war on energy has now become one of the planet's leading causes of death and infant mortality.  This is the only conclusion from a new 2024 study, finding more than 1 billion people STILL lack access to reliable electric power. [...] So here we are in the year 2024 and a population TWICE the size of the United States still has no electricity some 125 years after Edison's invention of the light bulb!  Energy poverty has become one of the leading causes of death.  Then we have a half-trillion-dollar climate change industrial complex (funded by the U.S. government and leftwing tax-exempt foundations) instructing poor nations in Africa and Asia to use LESS electric power and to avoid using coal and natural gas — the most plentiful and cheapest forms of energy.

New U.S.-E.U. Methane Rules Won't Affect Temperatures.  In March, the US Environmental Protection Agency published new methane emissions regulations for the oil and gas industry.  The European Union enacted new rules to reduce methane emissions from the energy sector in May.  Agriculture is also being targeted regarding methane.  But methane regulations, even if established worldwide, won't have a measurable effect on global temperatures.  However, they will raise costs for energy and food, impacting consumers and businesses.  On March 8, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized its rule on methane emissions for the oil and gas sector.  The rule is intended to "reduce wasteful methane emissions that endanger communities and fuel the climate crisis."  The new policy will require companies to pay a penalty of $900 for every ton of methane emitted above limits set by the EPA, starting this year.  A legal challenge to the EPA's new rule has been filed by 24 states.

Having it both ways on climate change and wetland methane.  Methane as a greenhouse gas is approximately 30 times more efficient in retaining heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.  Methane is the reason climate activists are calling for the elimination of the raising of bovine and many other agricultural activities.  Of particular interest, but little known publicly, methane is also the reason there have been calls in the environmental community for the banning of farming rice, an action that would likely lead to mass starvation.  This point is of particular interest because, on a global basis, this is an admission of what some scientists already know:  Wetlands produce the majority of naturally sourced methane.  In making the distinction that rice is cultivated by humans in man-made wetlands, activists tacitly acknowledge natural wetland methane production is the 800-pound climate-change gorilla in the room that everyone is trying to ignore.

Claim: Methane is producing "Unnatural" Climate Disasters.  Apparently failure to control methane emissions is a path to climate influences which some consider to be unnatural. [...] Sadly the video and report don't appear to have anything new to offer.  They want something to be done about cows (forcing farmers to feed them seaweed?), food waste and the fossil fuel industry.  Organic waste bins.  Food supplements for cows.  And a halt to approving new coal, oil and gas.  Pretty much what they have been whining about all along.  I'm not sure how the seaweed supplements are supposed to get to the farmers without a lot of fossil fuel powered transport, and all that extra complex processing of waste would require lots of infrastructure and energy, but joined up thinking has never been a prominent quality displayed by climate fanatics.

The Global War on Food.  The battle starts with how food is cooked.  We're all familiar with the government's war on gas stoves, one of the most popular methods for cooking food.  Knowing full well that outright bans won't work, the Biden administration is rolling out increased "efficiency" standards for new models that are effectively impossible to achieve.  The push is to electrify everything, despite the increased strain this agenda places on an already fragile grid.  Now it's being hinted that cooking food itself is bad.  According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a quarter of all air pollution comes from cooking food.  "If you can smell it, there's a good chance it's impacting air quality," we're told.  At fault are "primarily oxygenated VOCs, or volatile organic compounds."  It's not far-fetched to conclude that if a government agency says something is impacting air quality, then soon it will be under tighter regulation.

Biden's War On Natural Gas Will Deprive America of Affordable Energy.  Even as the Biden administration's regulatory agencies are moving to render the building of new natural gas power plants too costly to build, a consensus has formed in the analyst community that the added power demands from AI will require a big expansion of natural gas generation to ensure grid stability.  Over a span of less than 20 days in April and May, Biden regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published new regulations that, according to grid expert Robert Bryce, add more than 1 million words targeting natural gas to the federal register.  On April 25, the EPA finalized new power plant emission rules that will sentially force the retirement of America's remaining coal-fired power plants by 2030 by rendering them too costly to continue operating.  Most media reports focused on that aspect of the new regulations, which had been anticipated.

Natural Gas Fuels Prosperity of Canadian First Nations Communities.  Obsessed with the faux climate crisis, the Canadian government in Ottawa seemingly discounts altogether the social and economic benefits of natural gas to First Nations communities of the country's western region.  Approximately 5% of the world's gas comes from Canada, mainly from the vast Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin underlying several provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.  In 2023, the country ranked fifth in global production behind the U.S., Russia, Iran, and China.  Some First Nations communities — a designation that takes in indigenous people living south of the Arctic Circle — have historically faced challenges in terms of economic development and social well-being.  Limited access to education, healthcare, and infrastructure has resulted in lower living standards compared to the national average — a fact that I observed firsthand as a researcher in British Columbia.  Unemployment rates are often higher in First Nations communities, and poverty remains a persistent issue.  However, oil and gas development has provided a pathway to prosperity to many of these communities.

Joe Biden's Dangerous Natural Gas Game.  [Scroll down]  Witness the debacle over liquefied natural gas exports, wherein the White House, by "pausing" most new approvals, has catapulted the energy security of key U.S. allies straight into the buzzsaw of its climate ambitions.  (The category of exports that will continue to be authorized is tiny.)  The Department of Energy claims that a multifactor impact study due in early 2025 is required to determine whether and how the moratorium will be lifted.  Under a certain conception of executive power, it should be simple enough for a second-term Trump administration to end this national embarrassment by pressing "resume" on the authorization process.  But as analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies have suggested, merely setting aside the study could provide a basis, however tenuous, for future litigation.  In the modern administrative state, it is easier to open than shut the procedural door to delays.  Previous administrations have already published macroeconomic impact studies on the question of LNG exports from the U.S.

Energy Sobriety In The Canadian Rockies:  Natural Gas Is Here To Stay.  What a breathe of fresh air!  Not only because it is in the mountains, the Canadian Rockies, with the spectacular backdrop of Banff, Alberta, to be specific.  But also because it is refreshing that the triennial global gas conference IGRC2024 held in Banff last week headlined speakers who proclaimed the virtues of fossil fuels and their positive role in human flourishing.  In a world inundated with incessant claims by the legacy media of how the use of fossil fuels will bring about climate catastrophe, in 10 years or 100 years (take your pick), it was indeed exhilarating to hear so many voices — from indigenous leaders of Canada's First Nations to CEOs of innovative businesses in the oil and gas sectors — who believed that Canada's oil and gas riches bring about the possibilities of continued human betterment.

Signature gathering begins for WA ballot measure to repeal natural gas phase out.  A court challenge over the title of an initiative to the ballot concerning the natural gas phase out in Washington has ended.  Supporters of the measure to repeal House Bill 1589 have been unable to gather signatures for their effort that hopes to qualify for the fall ballot, because opponents challenged language of the initiative title and summary explanation that will go to voters.  After a Wednesday hearing in Thurston County Superior Court, a judge ruled that most language in the title will remain the same.

Biden Bans Gas Stoves And Appliances In Federal Buildings.  The Biden administration finalized a rule Wednesday [5/8/2024] that bans the use of natural gas in new federal buildings.  The Department of Energy (DOE) announced the final rule, which requires federal agencies to "phase out" and ultimately eliminate the on-site use of fossil fuels starting in 2030. New federal buildings constructed after 2030 will not be allowed to have the natural gas hookups required to power gas stoves and other appliances under the final rule. [...] Ahead of the 2030 mandate, the rule will require new buildings and those undergoing significant renovation between 2025 and 2029 to reduce fossil fuel use by 90%, according to the DOE.  The Biden DOE has regulated aggressively to push more energy efficient appliances, which are often more expensive up front and powered by electricity rather than fossil fuels.  The DOE and other agencies have pushed regulations targeting items like lightbulbs, portable generators, pool pump motors, water heaters and furnaces under the watch of Granholm and President Joe Biden.

Media trumpet study finding gas stoves impact health while ignoring studies with different results.  Stanford researchers recently claimed to have found a link between childhood respiratory illnesses and the use of gas stoves.  [Advertisement #1]  The study, which was reported last week across multiple national news outlets, posed an interesting contrast to a study in February funded by the World Health Organization and published in The Lancet that found no such link and appeared to received no mention in any such outlet. [...] "The attempts at the gas stove ban is an attempt to reduce the popularity and the consumption of natural gas in order to make way for renewables," Tom Shepstone, an energy expert who publishes "Energy Security and Freedom" on Substack, told Just The News.  [Advertisement #6]  The alarm over gas stoves, however, didn't resonate with the public.  As Steve Everley, Energy communications and public affairs with FTI Consulting, showed in a thread on X, the ruckus actually had the opposite effect.  In January 2023, a YouGov poll found a 50/50 split, with respondents' top answer being that they "strongly oppose" a ban on gas stoves.

Reports: 2023 was a record year for natural gas consumption.  2023 was a record year for domestic natural gas consumption, and its supply wouldn't have been possible without record U.S. production, led by Texas, according to several reports.  Texas produced the equivalent of one-third of the natural gas consumed last year, with Texas producers breaking multiple records last year, The Center Square reported.  In 2023, Americans consumed 89.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas as a primary energy source.  Natural gas was the top energy source powering homes and businesses.  Last year's consumption was "the most on record," the U.S. Energy Information said in a recent report.  Since 2018, domestic natural gas consumption has increased by an average of 4% annually, according to EIA's analysis.

Texas oil, natural gas production reached record highs in 2023.  Texas' oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) production in 2023 reached new record highs, according to newly updated data released by the U.S. Energy Information Agency.  The new annual data for 2023 shows that Texas crude oil production reached 5.5 million barrels per day (mb/d), its NGL production reached 3.3 mb/d, and its natural gas marketed production reached 29 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d).  Texas' natural gas underground storage capacity grew to a record 863.4 bcf.  Texas also broke four new monthly records in December 2023:  natural gas marketed production reached 32.6 bcf/d, refiner and blender net inputs reached 5.69 mb/d, refined petroleum product exports reached 4.39 mb/d, and crude oil supply reached 9.9 mb/d — the greatest supply for the month on record.  The crude oil supply includes in-state production in addition to imports and interstate net receipts.

These 11 Charts Show Why The U.S. Is A Natural Gas Superpower.  About 47% of all the homes in the country rely on natural gas furnaces for heating.  Heating with gas is far cheaper than heating with electricity.  Thanks to the shale revolution, private ownership of mineral rights, and hydraulic fracturing, the U.S. is now producing record quantities of gas, and because of that, we have a cost advantage over nearly every other country on the planet.  European consumers now pay more than four times as much for natty as their American counterparts.  Over the past few years, the U.S. has become a natural gas powerhouse, and the fuel has become an integral, irreplaceable part of our economy.  My pal, Doomberg, made that point back in February, explaining that a key reason the U.S. economy has not fallen into recession is because it's increasingly fueled by cheap natural gas.

Study grades natural gas as best source for reliability, affordability and environmental impact.  Anew study finds that natural gas is the most effective energy source meeting growing energy demands affordably and reliably, while balancing environmental and human impact.  The "Grading the Grid" study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a pro-free market nonprofit, and Northwood University rates natural gas, coal, petroleum, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar and geothermal generation sources on their reliability, environmental and human impact, cost, innovation and market feasibility.  Natural gas got an "A" grade, followed by nuclear, which got a "B+".  Wind and solar energy came in last, each receiving "F" grades, according to the study.

Corruption Is Treason.  When you look into it, it isn't because human activity can destroy the planet, but it does coincide quite nicely with the goals of the globalist/communists to maximize control over human activity.  The absurdity of their arguments, I thought, would keep them from achieving their goals, but I was mistaken.  The absurdity of their arguments only meant they had to enlist the governments and international organizations who rule over the people and buying off politicians and scientists is much easier to accomplish than convincing people that electric vehicles, powered by coal-fired power plants, somehow achieve zero emissions.  The one true clean energy is natural gas, but they are against that, too.  Why?  That's the question they are never able to answer.

Berkeley Forced to Abandon Green Agenda Ban on Natural Gas after Court Battle.  A nearly four-year court battle has forced the City of Berkeley, California to abandon its landmark ban on natural gas hookups in new buildings.  Berkeley officials have finally agreed to stop enforcing the green agenda rule.  The decision ends a long court battle to beat the ban by industry groups.  The city said it would immediately stop enforcement of the Natural Gas Infrastructure Ordinance while repealing the policy through the regular legislative process.  The agreement was revealed in a legal settlement filed in federal court with the California Restaurant Association (CRA).

Rumors of a Charcoal or Gas Grill Ban in New York.  Spring has arrived here in New York State, not that you would know it looking at the current weather forecast.  And that means that grilling season is once again upon us.  Those who follow my social media streams know that we have a spring ritual at my house where I load up the grill with charcoal and toss on some steaks.  This year, however, some disturbing rumors have been making the rounds.  New York tends to follow the trends set by states like California and the climate alarmists have been banning things like natural gas and other supposed carbon demons.  Some legislators in the state capital have been making noises about extending those bans to propane and even charcoal, which would be bad news for grilling fans.

Qatar aims to be the World's number one LNG exporter.  Recently, Qatar's Energy Minister Saadi al-Kaabi spoke about new plans for the development of the gas sector.  Doha plans to increase gas production by another 13%, which will allow Qatar to control a quarter of the world's liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.  Doha, of course, expects further significant growth in Qatar's income and influence on the international stage.  If the targets are met, by 2030 LNG production in Qatar will almost double from the current 77 million tons, to 142 million tons.  In oil terms, this would mean production of 7.25 million b/d.  Moreover, most of the natural gas compressed to a liquid state will be exported.  Bloomberg draws attention to the fact that the growth figures are not final, but if they are revised, it will only be upward, because Saadi Kaabi emphasized at a press conference that if Doha sees an increase in demand, production could be increased even more.

Fossil Fuels Delivered the World from Poverty.  After oil was discovered, one of the first things produced was kerosene.  Without a doubt, this saved the whales, as whale oil had been used in lamps up to that time.  Even before the discovery of oil, kerosene was made from coal and was called "coal oil."  World government leaders and the present administration are determined to eliminate the use of all fossil fuels, because the burning of fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide.  But it is the use of fossil fuels that has created modern civilization.  Elimination of fossil fuels would take us back to the Stone Age.  Plus it is not just diesel and gasoline — there are over 6,000 things made from fossil fuels.  I have documented 1,700 items; you can get the idea.  Without fossil fuels, we would have no pavement; no rubber tires; and most important of all, no plastic.  Thus, no vinyl fences or siding, no plastic plumbing, and no packaging of grocery store items.

After scrapping nuclear reactors, Germany [intends] to spend billions on new gas power plants.  Berlin has agreed to spend €16 billion to build four major natural gas plants to meet electricity demand in a major overhaul of the country's energy grid.  In a statement Monday, officials said the new strategy came "in addition to the consistent expansion of renewable energies," and was key to ensuring steady power supplies "even in times where there is little sun and wind."  The ruling coalition reached the decision following talks between Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party and the economy minister, Green Party politician Robert Habeck.  The deal provides for a market-based capacity-boosting mechanism to expand electricity generation by 2028.

Texas electricity grid BARELY produced enough energy to meet demand during Winter Storm Heather in January.  The Texas grid was barely able to produce enough energy to meet the demand during Winter Storm Heather from Jan. 13 to 16.  Improvements have been made to the reliability of natural gas generation since Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.  These updates have all helped prevent another grid collapse.  But Texas was also lucky because Heather was not nearly as bad as Uri was in 2021.  During the 2024 storm, Texans used a wintertime record amount of electricity at 78,138 megawatts (MW) on the morning of Jan. 16.  The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) data revealed at the time that the system had 5,229 MW in physical responsive capability (PRC).  ERCOT begins sending alerts when operating reserves drop below 2,500 MW.  At 1,500 MW, ERCOT conducts "controlled outages" or rolling blackouts.

The Editor says...
Why do winter storms need to be named?  How long has that been going on?

New Report:  Coal, Natural Gas Saved the Grid In January Winter Storm.  January Winter Storm Demonstrates Importance of Coal and Other Fossil Fuels February 2024 Energy Ventures Analysis (EVA) has prepared a report on the performance of different electricity resources — coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, oil, wind, and solar — during the January 13-21 winter storm.  The report focuses on the five most-impacted regions of the country — Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), PJM Interconnection (PJM), Southwest Power Pool (SPP), and the southeastern U.S. — and compares the performance of resources in early January before the storm with their performance during the peak of the storm when electricity demand spiked.

Joe Biden eyes emissions crackdowns, media warns he is 'ignoring industry warnings' of financial collapse.  Today, Joe Biden is cracking down on manufacturing, but I bet he doesn't have the scientific data to give credibility to the new policies, but he doesn't care.  He is bending over for the green pushers. [...] I bet they also can't come up with scientific data that shows that CO2, a clean, non-polluting gas, at 420 PPM in the atmosphere, is any more dangerous than it was in the late 1800s, at 280 PPM. It's what makes plants and trees grow, and that is good.  Yet, we are spending massive amounts of money burying carbon.  There certainly is no data that shows that the 50% rise in CO2 over the last 150 years has anything to do with temperatures since they have risen and fallen for periods of time while CO2 was rising.  Last week he was cracking down on natural gas, which is a very clean form of energy.  The push for electric cars will also not change the climate, but it will surely make the poor and middle classes poorer and more restricted.  Something everyone should notice about all these regulations is that Biden never goes through Congress to inflict on America his radical agenda; the legislative process of the founding fathers is just too cumbersome for Biden.  The executive branch is also trying to enact a new natural gas tax, even though the Constitution says only the legislative branch can impose taxes.

Biden's Natural Gas Shutdown Won't Help The Environment.  The Biden Administration announced Friday that it's putting a stop to the permitting process for several liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal projects in the name of climate change. [...] American Exploration & Production Council CEO Anne Bradbury described the decision as "nonsensical," pointing out that "It simultaneously harms the U.S. economy, threatens the security of our allies around the world, and stymies global emissions reduction goals."  The move does indeed sound nonsensical if you believe climate fanatics actually care about the environment, which they do not.  The climate activists responsible for Friday's announcement wrap their anti-energy policies in warnings about the destruction of humanity.  Ironically, however, it is thanks to fossil fuels that climate-related disaster deaths have been reduced by 99 percent compared to 100 years ago.

The stupidity of Biden's liquefied natural gas export pause.  Last week's White House announcement that it was pausing new permits for exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is a desperate move by a desperate president.  Its principal beneficiaries are likely to be Vladimir Putin and Hamas-harboring Qatar, rather than Joe Biden's faltering re-election campaign.  The president's political calculation is overt.  "We will heed the calls of young people and frontline communities who are using who are using their voices to demand action," Biden says.  "The pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is:  the existential threat of our time."

Biden's LNG pause: a deadly fraud.  Joe Biden has halted LNG expansion, which the world needs for low-cost, reliable, secure energy.  He pretends it's to lower prices or GHG emissions, but it will do neither.  Halting LNG is pure electioneering.  And we'll all pay the price.  We live in a world that needs much more energy.  Energy poverty is rampant, and even the wealthy world has chronic energy shortages.  Natural gas can dramatically help because it is low-cost, reliable, versatile, clean, and secure.  And America can lead.  America has a virtually limitless supply of natural gas and an incredible ability to ramp up production quickly.

Biden Admin Rolling Out Stove Regulation After Insisting It's Not Trying To Ban Gas Stoves.  The Biden administration finalized an energy efficiency rule for stoves on Monday after claiming that it has no intention to ban gas-powered models.  The Department of Energy (DOE) published the final rule in accordance with a court order that requires the agency to publish the rule by the end of January.  The administration proposed an aggressive efficiency regulation for stoves in February 2023 and subsequently promised that it is not attempting to ban gas stoves, calling suggestions to the contrary "misinformation."  Compliance with the rules will be required for newly-manufactured products starting in January 2028, according to the DOE.  The regulation applies to electric cooktops, gas cooktops, stand-alone electric cooktops, stand-alone gas cooktops and ovens.

Biden Blocks Several Huge Natural Gas Projects.  Let's begin with an either-or question:  Does Joe Biden a) honestly believe that natural gas is an existential threat to mankind, as he regularly claims, or is he b) more concerned with appeasing — for political purposes — environmentalist alarmists?  Ponder the question if necessary — but I'm gonna go with "b."  While the professed fossil-fuel-loathing president has hysterically declared war on everything from residential gas furnaces to gas stoves to even gas dishwashers, his quest never ends.  In a Friday morning announcement, the White House and Department of Energy (DOE) revealed their next target — and it's enormous. [...] Facts, data, and science only matter to Democrats when they support the left's narratives.  We saw it with COVID-19.  When facts don't support the left's narratives, they are to be dismissed, lied about, or outright ignored.

Biden Pursues 'Functional Ban' on New Natural Gas Exports.  President Joe Biden appears to be looking to expand his war on American energy in 2024 with his administration's latest move delaying a decision on "what would be the largest natural gas export terminal in the United States."  From day one of the Biden administration, the president has used executive actions to pursue his radical "green" energy transition as part of his climate crusade to "end" fossil fuels, and his latest target is liquefied natural gas (LNG), specifically the terminals through which U.S. producers export their product.  As with many of his previous climate edicts issued by executive fiat because his policies wouldn't pass the people's representatives in Congress, Biden is citing "climate change" for this latest decision.  According to reports based on leaks to the New York Times by anonymous officials, the White House "is directing the Energy Department to expand its evaluation" of the Calcasieu Pass 2 proposal for a 546-acre terminal site in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.  The $10 billion project "would export up to 20 million tons of LNG per year" according to KPLC.

Civilization depends on 1 billion gasoline oil-fueled combustion engines.  There are over 1 billion gasoline-fueled combustion engines in cars, trucks, motorcycles, agricultural and garden machines, boats, snowmobiles, airplanes, power pumps, back-up and emergency electricity generators.  The final wave of globalization after WWII was due to High-compression, non-sparking, internal-combustion and Gas Turbines.  These engines can never be 100% efficient (Carnot's Theorem) because heat and friction cut their efficiency in half or more.  At best, well-maintained modern engines reach 32% efficiency, but those in typical everyday use are only 20-25% efficient. [...] Trains are at least 3 times as efficient as trucks energy-wise and move about 40% of cargo in the USA, a third of grain, two-thirds of all coal with extremely reliable, durable (up to 6 years before an overhaul is needed), and efficient diesel-electric engines.  The infrastructure cost of new railways versus highways is far far less — about $1-2 million per kilometer of railroad versus $9-10 million per kilometer of highway.  Each train can represent several hundred large trucks.

Federal court deals knockout punch to blue city's Biden-backed effort to ban gas stoves.  A federal appellate court ruled Tuesday that it would not reconsider an earlier decision that prevents the city of Berkeley, California, from enforcing its de facto ban on installing gas-powered appliances in new buildings.  Berkeley, one of the most liberal cities in America, enacted the policy in 2019, marketing it as a means of countering climate change while others railed against it as a de facto gas stove ban.  The California Restaurant Association sued the city over the ordinance, losing its challenge in federal court initially before a three-judge panel vindicated the trade group in April 2023, a decision the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opted against revisiting on Tuesday.  "By completely prohibiting the installation of natural gas piping within newly constructed buildings, the City of Berkeley has waded into a domain preempted by Congress," Patrick Bumatay, a circuit judge on the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and member of the panel, wrote in his opinion.

The War on Gas Stoves Has Basically Failed.  Let's round out the year with a bit of good news, or at least the potential for something positive following a season where reasons for optimism have been few and far between.  Among the many terrible governmental policy shifts seen under the Biden administration, one of the more odious has been the war on gas stoves, a subset of the overall war on fossil fuels and "Things That Work."  The Biden administration and its liberal allies have been hell-bent on shutting down natural gas in parallel with oil and gasoline.  The fact that our vaunted Vice President and border czar can't seem to stop posing next to gas stoves hasn't deterred them noticeably.

We Can't Let Fossil Fuels Die Because They Keep Us Alive.  When fossil fuels are gone, tissues are gone.  Disposable diapers are gone.  Yoga mats and plastic water bottles are gone.  Do climate change activist suburban moms know that?  Do you think Starbucks can survive without fossil fuels?  What about that salad from Whole Foods in a plastic container or even the plastic packaging for meat and produce?  Cologne, deodorant, perfume, bathroom cleansers, Swiffer pads, paper towels — sure, that mom may think disposable products are "bad for the Earth," but a lack of hygiene is far worse for her and her family.

Boom Boom:  Out Go the Lights!  Ruling like the dictator whom he says Donald Trump aspires to be, President Joe Biden has decreed restrictions, if not prohibitions, on gas stoves, gas furnaces, gasoline-powered cars and trucks, and other products.  Congress has passed no such laws for Biden to sign.  Instead, he has acted unilaterally, as despots do. [...] Biden's "Climate!" guru, John Kerry, attended the just-concluded COP28 global-warming hoe-down in Dubai.  Some of its 80,000 participants got delayed en route, as their private jets bogged down as 17 inches of snow closed Munich's airport.  Kerry soldiered forth and soon declared that "There shouldn't be any more coal power plants permitted anywhere in the world."  He added: "I do not understand how adults who are in a position of responsibility can be avoiding responsibility for taking away those things that are killing people on a daily basis."  When coal took a break from its homicides du jour, it also yielded 19.7% of U.S. electricity in 2022, according to Biden's own Energy Information Administration.  Biden's Environmental Protection Agency unveiled edicts on Dec. 2 that would clamp down on methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas wells.  Methane and natural gas are essentially interchangeable.  So, this bid to reduce 58 million tons of methane through 2038 is a barely disguised billy club to beat down the natural gas industry.  Never mind that, last year, 39.9% of U.S. electricity came from natural gas.

Biden's new rule against methane becomes 'final'.  It's not really an exaggeration (if at all) to say that every single day we hear from Hillary Clinton, Liz Cheney, Joe Scarborough, the media, and others about how dangerous President Trump is — ad nauseam they declare how "like Hitler" he is.  And, it seems every single day, Joe Biden issues some new executive order or regulation assaulting our freedoms and our prosperity.  He knows he can't get his radical agenda through Congress so he just goes around them.  He violates his oath of office by not only refusing to enforce immigration laws that Congress passed, but sabotaging our sovereignty too.  It is a pure abuse of power, and yet most of the media just cheers. [...] Now, Joe Biden is dictatorially issuing another rule to handicap the coal, oil, and gas industries.  He clearly doesn't care about costs or the loss of tens of millions of jobs directly or indirectly related to those industries.  The costs of these green policies are already destroying Americans purchasing power but a power hungry politician like Joe clearly doesn't care.

Bone-Chilling.  The most critical systems in our society — medical, water, wastewater, traffic lights, telecommunications, and lighting — depend on reliable electricity.  But earlier this month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation issued their final report on a winter storm that hammered the northeastern U.S. last year.  And that report proves that our natural gas grid is just as essential as our electric grid.  FERC and NERC have repeatedly said that the two grids are intertwined, interdependent, and irreplaceable.  Indeed, a reliable and resilient natural gas grid is critical to our energy security, and therefore, our national security.  Put short, policymakers ignore the importance of the gas pipeline system at our extreme peril.

Heating Homes With Natural Gas Is More Than 40% Cheaper Than Electricity:  US EIA.  Heating homes this winter using natural gas is estimated to cut down energy costs by more than 40 percent compared to electricity, according to a recent report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).  Households using electricity to heat homes are projected to pay $1,063 on average between November and March, according to a Nov. 7 winter fuels outlook report by the EIA.  In comparison, households using natural gas are only expected to shell out $601.  Region-wise, the biggest difference is in the Midwest, where electric heating is expected to cost $1,213 — more than double the gas cost of $581.  In the Northeast, gas heating is projected to be cheaper by $704, in the South by $507, and in the West by $417.  Natural gas heating is also cheaper compared to other alternative energy sources such as propane and heating oil, which are expected to cost $1,343 and $1,851 respectively.

Five things the Biden administration has attempted to restrict.  [#1]  Gas stoves:  One of the most hot-button topics of the year stemming from the Department of Energy has been a push to restrict the use of gas-powered stoves through new efficiency rules.  The proposed rule would make at least half of stove models in the United States ineligible for repurchase if they were in stores today.  The Department of Energy estimated the rule would save consumers 9 cents per month after originally promising higher savings for consumers when the rule was proposed earlier this year.  The backlash to the rule caused the House of Representatives to pass the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, which would prevent the Consumer Product Safety Commission from using federal funds to enforce the rule on gas stoves.  The bill has not been taken up by the Senate.

Green Hydrogen Needs Vast Subsidies.  World leaders tout "green hydrogen" as an essential fuel in the renewable energy transition.  Today, heavy industries use huge amounts of coal and natural gas to produce products needed by society.  Governments propose to replace hydrocarbon fuels with hydrogen fuel, using hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies.  But vast subsidies won't be enough to overcome the insurmountable problems with green hydrogen fuel.  Four big industries — ammonia, cement, plastics, and steel — are powered by natural gas and coal, also called hydrocarbon fuels, while emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2).  The world's ammonia industry produced almost 200 million tons of ammonia in 2020, primarily for agricultural fertilizer, using natural gas and coal as fuel and feedstock.  About 4.3 billion tons of cement, the essential material for concrete, were output that same year, while exhausting CO2 and burning hydrocarbons in furnaces.  Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year using gas for feedstock and fuel.  Annually, 1.9 billion tons of steel are produced using coal and gas.

Biden Administration Now Wants to Ban Furnaces.  In an attempt to force Americans to conserve energy, the Department of Energy is banning a whole class of popular furnaces, eventually raising heating costs and reducing product choices for families and businesses alike.  And it is using an outdated law to give itself the authority to do so.  While the DOE did recognize many of the comments that I submitted arguing against its attempt to regulate gas furnaces, it did little more than brush them off.  Unfortunately, higher costs and less choice won't be so easy for American families and businesses to ignore.  Furthermore, the DOE relied on outdated congressional authority to devise its final rule, and the law itself doesn't require the department to tighten standards for gas furnaces when there is no good reason for it to do so (and there isn't).  The new rule does not simply alter standards; it would effectively remove a technology from the marketplace and reduce competition.

New York gas stove ban heats up as gas and construction groups file federal lawsuit.  A group of gas and construction trade groups filed a federal lawsuit Thursday challenging the legality of New York's ban on gas stoves and furnaces in new residential buildings in a move to challenge Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's push for green energy.  The case was filed by the National Association of Home Builders and the National Propane Gas Association, among others and names the New York Department of State as a defendant on the lawsuit.  The lawsuit alleges that New York does not have the legal ability to enforce the gas stove ban because a preexisting federal law, called the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) of 1975, already regulates energy use policies.

Federal Lawsuit Filed Over New York State Ban on Gas Stoves That Democrats Said Wasn't Happening.  Remember the stupid ban on gas stoves?  The one that Democrats insisted wasn't happening?  Two professional groups have just filed a federal lawsuit over the ban in New York, claiming that the state doesn't have the authority to put such a ban in place.  There needs to be more legal action like this.  Democrats are out of bounds on this issue.

Hands Off My Stove.  The national movement to ban gas appliances is already underway.  Dark-money leftist environmental groups and elitist elected officials are going to kick in our front doors and seat themselves at the very epicenter of our family life — right in our own kitchen.  If successful they will be able to start dictating every other aspect of our lives; right down to how we prepare our meals, do our laundry, and heat our homes.  This is a grotesque invasion of personal privacy.

Yes, they are coming for your gas furnaces too.  'It's all just your imagination!'  Or at least that's what the legacy media keeps trying to tell us every time the Biden administration opens up a new front in the War On Things That Work.  That theory is about to be put to the test yet again with the latest announcement coming from Joe Biden's Department of Energy.  In a statement issued by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a person with absolutely no education or professional history in the energy sector, we were informed that new "energy efficiency regulations" are on the way that will directly impact residential natural gas furnaces.  It's not a "ban" in the traditional sense, but the new efficiency requirements being proposed will either be impossible to achieve or will drive the price of these furnaces beyond the reach of many working-class American homeowners.

Biden admin issues restrictions on gas furnaces in latest war on appliances.  The Biden administration announced its latest regulatory action targeting home appliances late Friday, this time targeting popular home gas-powered furnaces.  The Department of Energy (DOE) said the energy efficiency regulations would slash household utility costs by $1.5 billion on an annual basis while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the residential sector.  The proposal, according to the agency, require non-weatherized gas furnaces and those used in mobile homes to achieve a far higher level of efficiency than cheaper models on the market.  "At the direction of Congress, DOE is continuing to review and finalize energy standards for household appliances, such as residential furnaces, to lower costs for working families by reducing energy use and slashing harmful pollutants in homes across the nation," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

Why Has Biden Declared War on Natural Gas?  Natural gas is the world's wonder fuel: cheap, abundant, made in America, reliable AND clean burning.  So why are the Biden administration and environmental groups against it?  There's really no good answer.  What makes the Left's war against natural gas inexplicable is that the single biggest factor in reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere has been the increased reliance on natural gas for electric power generation as we transition slowly away from coal.  (By the way, emissions from coal plants have been dramatically reduced as well, which is one reason why the air that we breathe today is much cleaner than the air 20 or 50 or 100 years ago.)  No country produces more natural gas than America.  Latest reserve forecasts predict we have nearly 100 years of natural gas with existing drilling technologies, and hundreds of years of potential supply.  We're not running out.  We are the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.

Biden administration proposes tighter efficiency rule for new home water heaters.  The Biden administration on Friday proposed tightening an efficiency standard for new residential water heaters — a move that it said would both save consumers money and combat climate change.  The draft rule would require that, in order to become more efficient, most common-size electric water heaters use heat pump technology and gas-powered heaters use condensing technology.  The proposal from the Energy Department would cut 501 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over 30 years, the department said.  That's the equivalent of the emissions of 134 coal-fired power plants in one year.

The Editor says...
First of all, nobody has provided any reason to avoid the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and even if such a reason exists, India and China are ignoring it.  Second, any assertion that this new rule will "save consumers money and combat climate change" is a lie.  Competition and free markets save the consumers money.  The consumers will decide what kind of technology suits them.  Capitalism works great, for everybody but the government bureaucrats.  No rule or law will "combat climate change."  All the laws in the world will not stop "cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night."^*  Any time the federal government wants to mandate some technology that is not already widely popular, it means the technology will be less efficient, more costly, more inconvenient, and less reliable.  Why?  Because if everybody switched over to heat pumps and really liked them, the rest of us would have already bought heat pumps by now.  If nobody liked natural gas stoves, the market would have phased them out by now.  Always assume that the politician who is gung ho about solar-powered doorstops (or something equally stupid) is a politician whose brother-in-law is in that business.

Goodbye gas.  New all-electric homes show how to live without fossil fuels.  From the outside, the rows of tile-roof houses in a new community in Menifee don't look much different from those in other subdivisions cropping up in this fast-growing city in Riverside County.  But on the inside, these all-electric homes are revolutionary, offering a glimpse of the zero-emission future we should be hurtling toward to fight climate change and adapt to its effects.  All the houses in the Durango and Oak Shade at Shadow Mountain communities, two adjacent KB Home subdivisions I visited in May for an opening event, were built without natural gas hookups or appliances.  Each of the 219 homes comes with rooftop solar panels, heat pumps for heating and cooling, induction cooktops and other energy-efficient electric appliances, and a smart electrical panel that manages energy use.  In the garage is a battery storage system that can power the home during an outage and in the evenings when the cost of electricity from the grid is higher.

The Editor says...
[#1] Oh, what a wonderful idea, but where does the electricity come from?  A big power plant in another state perhaps?  One that runs on coal?  [#2] The solar panels on this house will work for about ten years.  What then?  [#3] The climate will always change, gradually, but there is no sense in fighting it.  Adapt.  [#4] Please tell me more about the "effects" of climate change.  What effects have you noticed?  [#5] There is no "zero-emission future."  Emissions of what?  Go ahead and say, "carbon dioxide," and we'll all know how tiny your problems are.  [#6] Your electric appliances won't work on a night when the wind isn't blowing and your batteries are dead.  [#7] Batteries consume more power than they give back, and in California, there is never a good time to charge them.

US Utilities Lobby Congress to Keep Gas Stoves Legal.  American gas utilities are lobbying support for bills to keep gas stoves operational, as the Biden administration recommends their elimination for climate change purposes.  Natural gas companies are gathering their political allies in Congress to ward off any attempts that gas stove use be curtailed, according to federal records.  Gas utility companies fear that gas stove bans are the start of a broader phaseout of natural gas, as climate change activists aim to electrify more of the energy system.  Leftist climate change activists are now going after natural gas consumption after destroying the U.S. coal industry under the Biden administration.

Media peddles new gas-stove study, neglects to mention one thing.  Media outlets covering a recently-published study claiming to show the harmful effects of gas stoves this past week failed to note that the study was primarily funded by a China-linked climate group.  The study found that the burning of methane in gas stoves raised household levels of benzene — a carcinogenic chemical — to those comparable with secondhand smoke, after setting one burner to high or an oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.  Outlets such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and NPR covered the study in the past seven days, but did not mention that the study was conducted with "primary support" from the High Tide Foundation, a climate activist non-profit committed to reducing methane that was co-founded by Richard Lawrence, an investment banker with significant economic ties to China.

Here's Why Europe's Energy Giants Are Pivoting Back To Oil.  Two of Europe's largest energy firms are pivoting from green energy back to their core oil and gas businesses, a move that industry experts tell the Daily Caller News Foundation signals a willingness to take political hits as oil and gas continue to be major sources of revenue.  Both Shell and fellow U.K. energy firm BP opted against further cuts to oil production recently, in a bid to restore investor confidence as their renewable ventures struggled, according to Bloomberg.  While the moves were met with criticism from climate-focused investors — activist investors and protestors attempted to storm the stage at Shell's annual shareholder meeting in late May — the companies are likely to stay the course despite criticism, thanks to the reliability of oil and gas to drive profits despite the emergence of green energy, Dan Kish, senior research fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, told the DCNF.

Green energy Democrats took donations from head of China-linked group pushing gas stoves ban.  House Democrats who voted against two GOP proposals to block President Joe Biden from banning gas stoves accepted campaign donations from the head of a China-linked group pushing to electrify the U.S. economy, records show.  Reps.  Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), and Adam Schiff (D-CA), among other Democrats, voted "nay" on Tuesday and Wednesday on the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act and Save Our Gas Stoves Act.  The cohort, and other congressional Democrats prioritizing green programs, have been boosted to the tune of almost $23,000 by Hal Harvey, founder and president of Climate Imperative, a nonprofit group with ties to China that has doled out large grants to activists behind expansive electrification policies, according to campaign finance disclosures.

The fallacious claim that gas stoves cause childhood asthma.  Recently much has been said and written about gas stoves causing childhood asthma, justifying politicians moving to ban residential gas stoves.  We reviewed the epidemiology studies used to support the ban in a recently published study.  We demonstrated that the studies were unreliable and there is no basis for the claims made.  This essay sums up our findings.  Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is not carbon-based, is the emission at issue for gas stoves.  Allergens are the basic issue in asthma.  Allergens are carbon-based and are mostly protein substances.  For example, pollen and plant parts; biological fragments shed from furry animals, rodents, cockroaches, dust mites; and fungal detritus can cause allergenic asthma reactions.  A recent American Thoracic Society report notes, "It is unclear whether direct effects of NO2 ... explain the causal link with asthma."  If NO2 were a cause of asthma, they would know.

Biden admin is preparing to target Americans' gas furnaces amid stove crackdown.  The Biden administration is expected to soon finalize regulations restricting which home gas-powered furnaces consumers are able to purchase in the future.  According to experts, the regulations — proposed in June 2022 by the Department of Energy (DOE) — would restrict consumer choice, drive prices higher and likely have a low impact on greenhouse gas emissions.  The agency could finalize the rules targeting residential gas furnaces, which more than 50% of American households rely on for space heating, at any point over the upcoming weeks.  "This is a classic example of one size not fitting all," Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview.  "Every home is different, every homeowner is different and people are best off having a wide range of choices.  They can work with their contractor to make the best decision for their home and their circumstances."

House Republicans Target Gas Stove Regulations, Power of Administrative State.  After repeatedly failing to overturn Biden administration regulations in existing legislation, House Republicans are taking the next steps in their attempt to exert authority over the administrative state.  Lawmakers discussed a series of bills intended to reach those ends during a June 5 Rules Committee hearing.  "The Constitution articulates where the laws are made.  It's here in Congress," said Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) in his opening remarks.  Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), by contrast, said the proposals show that the House Republican majority "once again prioritizes right-wing culture wars over the American people."  Right-leaning ideology prioritizes individual liberty over the government intervention preferred by the left.

Government's Ban Isn't Only About Gas Stoves.  The gas stove ban that we were told wasn't going to happen is now being debated in Congress.  Democrats are trying to ban certain models of gas stoves and other household appliances.  Republicans, meanwhile, are pushing two bills to try to stop the bans from happening.  [Video clip]

The Nanny State Stains a Deck.  When candidates run for public office — local, state, or federal — they campaign on some careful blend of their résumés, their personalities, and their political issues. [...]The related issue currently in the news is the world of natural gas appliances.  The United States has so much natural gas, it's practically free energy... but gas-powered ovens, ranges, furnaces, water heaters, and clothes dryers are under assault from blue states like New York and California and from the federal Department of Energy.  Some states have mandated that no new construction can include them; some cities have mandated that perfectly functional existing appliances be ripped out and replaced with electric.

There Is No Green "Energy Transition".  The reason for the growth in humanity from 1 to 8 billion in 200 years is simple:  fossil fuels are abundant, cheap, and efficient, so they provide reliable and dense energy at scale that can be manufactured into usable products by humanity.  Renewables, on the other hand, cannot manufacture anything for humanity.  Fossil fuels have helped to generate a quality-of-life revolution for a portion of humanity, and people in poverty who have missed out on this blessing rightfully want what the people in the wealthy and developed countries already have.  Recently, Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright explained in his viral video, dishonest terminology surrounds the climate debate.  One of these terms is "Energy Transition."  This term gives the impression that there exists a quick, easy, and scalable alternative to eliminate fossil fuels without serious impact on humanity.

Chefs join nationwide pushback against gas stove bans.  World-renowned chef José Andrés is trying to open his first Bay Area eatery but appears ready to quit the effort if officials in the city of Palo Alto don't allow the use of natural gas at the proposed site.  Andrés's position was revealed in an April 28 letter to the city from the attorney for the shopping center that has a deal to bring in the chef's new Zaytinya restaurant.  "Some of its more conventional cooking equipment can be made electric, but other unique pieces of gas-fired equipment critical for Zaytinya's success do not have electrically powered equivalents," the letter reads.  "Without a gas connection and appliances, Zaytinya would be forced to alter its signature five-star reputation and ... will likely choose not to locate within the city."  The controversy started in January after the chairman of the Federal Consumer Safety Products Commission, Richard Trumka Jr., said gas stoves posed a "hidden hazard" and suggested the agency could ban them.

How Long Before Environmentalists Start Attacking EVs?  We've seen this bait-and-switch tactic before.  Back in 2007, energy producers pumped money into environmental groups to promote natural gas.  The Sierra Club used the funds to mount a "Beyond Coal" campaign touting the benefits of gas.  Joe Romm, a climate advocate at the Center for American Progress, declared that natural gas "may be the single biggest game changer for climate action in the next two decades."  Then came the fracking revolution, and the resulting abundance of natural gas caused power plants across the country to switch to gas from coal.  Then environmentalists decided natural gas wasn't so good after all.  By 2015, they were at war with it.  Environmentalists tried to stop fracking, opposed new pipeline development, and then started pushing for bans on gas-fueled appliances.  More than 70 cities in California alone have voted to ban natural gas hookups in new homes.  New York became the first to impose a statewide ban.

The New Ugly Americans.  The Biden Administration in January 2022 stopped the EastMed pipeline.  That joint effort of our allies Cyprus, Greece, and Israel sought to bring much needed clean-burning Mediterranean natural gas to southern Europe.  Apparently, our diplomats felt it violated our own New Green Deal orthodoxies.  So we imperialists interfered to destroy a vital project of our closest allies.

The war on gas stoves is a war on all natural gas.  Remember when we were assured that there is no war on natural gas stoves?  That was always a lie, of course.  But it is bigger than just stoves.  New York is banning all natural gas connections in new construction.  [Tweet]  Maybe when the Democrats and their MSM allies assured that gas stoves weren't in the crosshairs they actually meant that not only gas stoves were going to be banned.  Natural gas appliances of all types are going the way of the dinosaur.

New York legislators set to ban natural gas hookups in new buildings.  Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) and state lawmakers reached an agreement to phase out natural gas hookups in new buildings beginning in 2025, a first-of-its-kind state law designed to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and transition to cleaner sources of energy.  Hochul said Thursday she reached a handshake deal with lawmakers on the agreement, which was included in New York's fiscal 2024 budget.  Though the budget stops short of an explicit ban on natural gas appliances, it will ban natural gas hookups in most new residential and commercial buildings under seven stories beginning in 2026.  By 2029, that will extend to larger industrial and commercial properties as well.

The Editor says...
If the goal is to "transition to cleaner sources of energy," what's cleaner than natural gas?  Most of the electricity in New York is generated by power plants that use natural gas [Source].

Federal Court Blocks California City's Gas Stove Ban, Turning Up The Heat on Democrats.  A federal appeals court on Monday overturned a California city's first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas hookups in new buildings, saying it violates federal law.  The three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal sided with a coalition of California restaurants, who argued that the City of Berkeley's ordinance essentially bans gas appliances in violation of a 1975 directive that gives Congress control over restrictions on appliances.  The unanimous ruling is a major blow to California Democrats' green energy push, and could clear the way for legal challenges to similar bans around the country.  Democrats have increasingly moved to ban gas stoves while attempting to downplay their efforts.  New York is poised to become the first state to ban gas stoves, and California is working towards a statewide ban of its own.  The White House has denied that President Joe Biden supports banning gas stoves while the Energy Department works to restrict their sale.  Blue state attorneys general and environmental groups lined up to support the ban in court, in a sign of the case's national implications.

Ninth Circuit Throws Out Berkeley Ban on Gas Stoves.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit tossed a Berkeley, California, ban on gas stoves on Monday, saying that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act preempted state and local authorities in regulating natural gas. [...] The Biden administration has taken steps toward eliminating gas stoves — though it briefly pretended otherwise — ostensibly to prevent asthma, but actually as part of a broader push against fossil fuel production.

Natural Gas Derangement Syndrome.  Aside from water, there may be no natural resource that provides more human benefit than natural gas.  Yet Democrats, environmentalists, and the left see natural gas as a curse — however, it is far, far better than any of their "renewable" energy alternatives (wind and solar in particular). [...] Natural gas is easily transportable, storable, readily available, versatile, land-use efficient, out of sight, abundant, and energy dense (especially when compressed 600-fold and converted into liquified natural gas, LNG).  Natural gas is ready to use as needed, unlike what's true with windmills and solar panels, which always need to generate new energy.  In 2009, innovations in fracking (hydraulic fracturing) and horizontal drilling increased the recoverable reserves of natural gas at least tenfold, especially those reserves within our own borders.  Almost immediately the price per British Thermal Unit dropped in the U.S. from $10 to $3 (where it has remained most of the time).  The Democrat Party hates fracking and would ban it altogether if it could.

Energy Insecurity Is the Problem Natural Gas Cures.  Across the world, people rely on various types of fuel to cook their meals.  Cooking fuels can be divided into categories, based on levels of emissions when burned — and modern fuels are designated as "clean" when they have low-level polluting emissions.  Examples of clean fuels include electricity, natural gas, and ethanol, among others.  According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), more than 2.5 billion people lack access to clean cooking fuels, forcing them to rely on less desirable alternatives.  Alternative cooking fuels that don't burn as clean as modern fuels include charcoal, wood, crop waste, or even dung.  Those with very low-to-low income levels often use these alternatives because they are more affordable and accessible options. [...] An unfortunate truth about utilizing less clean cooking fuels is an increase in indoor air pollution in homes.  The IEA also reports that nearly 2.5 million deaths are attributed to household air pollution, which often comes directly from cooking smoke.

Judge cancels Montana gas plant's permit over climate concerns.  A judge canceled the air quality permit for a natural gas power plant that's under construction along the Yellowstone River in Montana citing worries over climate change.  State District Judge Michael Moses ruled Thursday that Montana officials failed to adequately consider the 23 million tons of planet-warming greenhouse gases that the project would emit over several decades.  Many utilities across the U.S. have replaced coal power with less polluting natural gas plants in recent years.  But the industry remains under pressure to abandon fossil fuels altogether as climate change worsens.

The Editor says...
Grammatically speaking, for climate change to "worsen," it would first have to be "bad."  Climate change isn't bad.  It's a fact of life.  Climate change is gonna happen, with or without gasoline engines.  Deal with it.

Kiss your gas goodbye.  All is takes is a bunch of vocal lunatics ruining their own states, and the horde of howling monkeys rattling the cage bars is enough to scare the rest of the sane people away.  That's essentially what's happening in the natural gas world right this very second.  You may own a gas stove or furnace, and you may just adore that appliance, and your state may not even be outlawing the stuff that makes it get hot as all get out and works even when the electricity doesn't.  But guess what?  The utility that sends that wonderous, gaseous fuel through the lines to your house is running scared, and they are already moving to divest themselves of what they see as a YUGE liability — owning natural gas pipelines.

29 Dems Join GOP in House Vote to Block Biden Admin From Limiting Access to Gas Stoves.  U.S. House lawmakers voted in support of an energy bill amendment that would prevent the Department of Energy from introducing energy efficiency standards that could outlaw most gas stoves on the market today.  More than a dozen Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the measure, part of a Republican-led pro-fossil-fuel legislative package H.R. 1, also referred to as the Lower Energy Costs Act, which the Biden administration has vowed to veto.  "Glad the House passed my amendment to H.R. 1 preventing @ENERGY from banning 50% of gas stoves on the market," Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), who proposed the amendment, wrote on Twitter late Wednesday. "This de facto gas stove ban was supported by 181 Democrats who are complicit in Biden's quest to control your kitchen appliances," added Palmer, the chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee.

The Dark Money Behind The Gas Bans.  Last Tuesday, Rewiring America announced that it has hired Georgia politician Stacey Abrams to help the group "launch and scale a national awareness campaign and a network of large and small communities working to help Americans go electric." [...] Rewiring America is part of the NGO-industrial-corporate-climate complex that, as I reported here last month, is now spending some $4.5 billion per year to promote anti-industry policies.  While their agendas vary, the anti-industry NGOs are generally trying to mandate increased use of weather-dependent renewables, hinder (or stop) hydrocarbon production, prevent the construction of new hydrocarbon infrastructure, mandate building electrification, and of course, ban the use of natural gas in homes and businesses.  As I explained in January, Rewiring America's mission to electrify everything, ban the use of natural gas in homes and businesses, (and gas stoves), is part of a years-long, lavishly funded campaign that is being bankrolled by some of the world's richest people.  But here's the pernicious part:  the big-money donors backing Rewiring America, and other groups pushing the gas bans, are hiding their identities behind a dark money network of NGOs that are purposely obscuring their funding and the groups they are bankrolling.

California's in a headlong rush to renewables, but the state's CO2 emissions aren't falling.  Last week, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District approved new regulations that will ban the use of residential and commercial natural gas-fired water heaters and furnaces in 2027.  The regulation, which only applies to new appliances, prohibits residents in the Bay Area from buying or installing gas water heaters starting in 2027.  The prohibition on residential furnaces starts in 2029 and the ban on commercial water heaters begins in 2031.  In a March 15 press release, Philip Fine, the executive officer of the agency said the new "groundbreaking regulation will phase out the most polluting appliances in homes and businesses to protect Bay Area residents from the harmful air pollution they cause."  He also said the ban was justified because those appliances "significantly impact our air quality, resulting in dozens of early deaths and a wide range of health impacts, particularly in communities of color."  The move is the latest example of how California policymakers are adopting a phalanx of regulations that are forcing residents to use electricity instead of natural gas.

The Editor says...
[#1] Gas appliances do not cause "harmful air pollution."  [#2] Switching to electricity doesn't solve anything if the central power plant burns natural gas.  [#3] Air pollution (or hot or cold or rain or drought) doesn't affect black neighborhoods any differently than any other place.

'Keep your hands off our stoves': Oil and Gas Association vows to fight Department of Energy on gas stove ban.  The United States Oil and Gas Association gave a scathing review to the Biden administration's green energy policies recently, stating that the organiztion will be pushing a message of "keep your hands off our stoves" in response to a possible gas stove ban.  In an interview with Just the News, U.S. Oil and Gas Association President Tim Stewart called a potential gas stove ban an invasion of "personal space" that "really bothers people."  "The kitchen is the epicenter of everybody's home," Stewart said.  "It's where parents teach their kids.  You gather around the center island and eat together.  This is a place where all the teaching takes place.  And this green movement is knocking on our front doors and working its way to the center of our houses," he added.

Holding the right people responsible for the global energy crisis.  Europe's vulnerability to Russia was completely preventable.  Europe and its allies have all the natural gas, coal, and uranium they need to produce low-cost, reliable heat and electricity for generations to come.  But anti-fossil fuel, anti-nuclear policies have neutered Europe.  For the last 2 decades Europe has destroyed its ability to produce and import energy from fossil fuels and nuclear — on the promise that unreliable solar and wind could replace them.  But after trillions in subsidies, it's clear that they have failed.  One major cause of Europe's current energy impotence is its numerous bans on the greatest natural gas producing technology ever invented: fracking.  Fracking has been banned by France, Bulgaria, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and the UK.  Another major cause of Europe's current energy impotence is its opposition to LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) import terminals — combined with the US's opposition to export terminals.  If not for these, Europe could get a lot of its gas from America — not Russia.

Republicans Introduce Bills to Prevent Biden Administration From Banning Gas Stoves.  Two House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans announced on March 20 they are introducing legislation to prevent the Biden administration from banning gas stoves.  The legislation was introduced by Reps.  Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) and Debbie Lesko, (R-Ariz.) in response to the Biden administration's two-pronged push to ban gas stoves, and might go to the House floor for a vote later this year.  Lesko introduced H.R. 1640, also known as the Save Our Gas Stoves Act, while Armstrong introduced H.R. 1615, the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act.  Both bills are currently in committee.  The pieces of legislation would prohibit the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from using federal funding to implement any regulation that would classify gas stoves as a prohibited dangerous product under current law.

Biden is not only after your gas stove but also your fridge and washer.  An official on President Joe Biden's Consumer Product Safety Commission let it slip to a reporter earlier this year that the sale of gas stoves might soon be banned for health and safety reasons.  The Biden administration, using a bogus study from a group of environmental activists, was signaling its intention to spread a fake health scare over gas stoves.  This was to be a pretext for imposing a ban related to global warming alarmism — something most people care about less than health.  Public outrage over this news forced Biden's minions to rethink their plan.  But they didn't take long to sneak back to it.  The Energy Department announced regulations that will ban the sale of nearly all gas stoves on the market.  It would ban the sale of 96% of gas stoves currently being purchased, to say nothing of the models bought years ago.

Internal Memo Shows Biden Admin Wanted To Ban Gas Stoves Before Public Backlash.  The Biden administration claimed the need to ban gas stoves "reached a boiling point" before the conversation really got heated.  In January, Richard Trumka Jr., a Biden appointee to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), triggered an avalanche of headlines when he told Bloomberg News, "any option is on the table" regarding gas stove regulation.  "Products that can't be safe can be banned," Trumka said.  The comment draws on left-wing myths that gas stoves are a primary source of respiratory problems through indoor emissions.  Such claims, however, have nothing to do with science and everything to do with radical climate activism.  Corporate outlets jumped to downplay the administration's threat after public outcry forced the White House to backtrack such regulations. [...] Other outlets framed conservatives as the aggressors even as nearly 100 cities have already banned the gas appliance.  Another 20 states are considering similar regulations, according to the Washington Examiner.

Federal Agency Comes Closer to Gas Stove Ban.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has made a formal request for information about the possible health hazards of gas-powered stoves — another signal that the United States may be moving towards a ban on those appliances under the Biden administration.  "This RFI does not constitute or propose regulatory action, but rather is intended to inform the Commission and the public," the request states.  The request can be viewed here.  It has already received hundreds of comments.  The comment period ends May 8.  The request states that it is seeking input and "proposed solutions" from stakeholders such as "consumers, manufacturers, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and researchers on chronic chemical hazards associated with the use of gas ranges."

Biden Admin Flooded With Negative Comments Over Gas Stove Regulations.  Hundreds of Americans are flooding President Joe Biden's Consumer Product Safety Commission with negative reactions to its potential gas stove regulations, with commenters urging the administration to stay out of their kitchens.  More than 400 people have submitted comments to the commission since it moved earlier this month to seek public input on gas stoves, which Biden-backed commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. says pose "hidden hazards" in American homes.  Roughly 99 percent of those comments, a Washington Free Beacon review found, express opposition to new gas stove regulations.  While many of the negative comments are cordial, with respondents detailing their decades of gas stove use with no ill effects, other comments are not.

US Gas Consumption Trends.  The US EIA have just published a report, which shows how natural gas consumption has been steadily rising in the US since 2013:  [Charts]  No surprise there, as gas has steadily been replacing coal in the electricity mix.  But I would draw your attention to the seasonal peaks and troughs.  As with the UK, gas consumption rises sharply in winter, typically about 60% above summer levels.  This is a reminder of how difficult it will be to replace gas and coal with renewables, which cannot be simply be turned up and down as required.

California Regulators Ban Gas Appliances In San Francisco Bay Area.  California regulators voted Wednesday [3/15/2023] to ban gas furnaces and water heaters in one of the state's most populated regions, a move that will likely require locals to undergo costly home renovations.  The Bay Area Air Quality District Board, a panel of appointees tasked with curbing pollutants for nine California counties, voted Wednesday to block the installation of gas-powered appliances beginning in 2027.  The board acknowledged that homeowners will have to spend thousands of dollars to install electric appliances and that the pivot away from natural gas will increase energy costs.  The ban comes as Democrats nationwide set their sights on natural gas.  The Biden administration has proposed a rule change that would effectively ban the sale of half of all gas stoves in the United States, a move Democrats had claimed was not on the table.

Stacey Abrams gets a new job after election loss, joins environmental group trying to eliminate gas stoves.  Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has announced she will be joining an environmental advocacy dark money group that is pushing to regulate and ban natural gas-powered stoves.  Rewiring America, the nonprofit group Abrams will join as senior counsel, is a self-described "leading electrification nonprofit, focused on electrifying our homes, businesses, and communities."  Through her role, Abrams will "launch and scale a national awareness campaign and a network of large and small communities working to help Americans go electric," according to the group.

The Editor says...
In case you get most of your information from TV, there is just barely enough electricity available to meet the demand as it is.  Adding thousands of new all-electric houses is unwise and inefficient, since the required electricity will probably come from a power plant that uses coal or natural gas.  It would be far better to burn the natural gas right under a skillet in your kitchen.

Stacy Abrams is coming for your gas stove.  Abrams is thrilled — thrilled, I tell you — to be a part of such important work.  Bringing the message of climate change, renewables, and electrification to ignorant sods in communities all over the country, who didn't know how unhappy they were with the appliances they own. [...] You'll notice the mention of the Inflation Reduction Act incentives there.  She's pushing spending our money to make us miserable, cold, and unhappy.  Not to mention she's "connecting" you to the people who'll do the installing, etc., so she's basically the annoying solar salesman who bangs every third day on your door already, only she's salaried.  What a peach.

Biden Seeks to Eliminate 96% of Gas Stoves.  It wasn't until America's crooked fact-checkers said Joe Biden had no intention of banning gas stoves that I was certain Joe Biden would ban gas stoves.  And now we know he is — 96 percent of them.  "Yes, the Biden administration is coming for your gas stove," writes Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) in the Washington Examiner.  It's a backdoor ban by way of outrageous regulations only four percent of gas stoves will meet.  And it's being done, not through democracy and our elected representatives, but by fascist bureaucrats in the Department of Energy.

Germany to use tenders to build 25 gigawatts of new gas power plants by 2030.  Germany will use auctions to ensure new gas power plants are built, which the government sees as necessary to secure supply at times when renewable energy does not deliver enough electricity, said economy minister Robert Habeck. "We will build the power plants we need for the times when wind and sun do not provide enough electricity out to tender," said the minister at the presentation of a report on the progress of the country's transition to climate neutrality.  In recent years, Germany has used auctions to incentivise and control the expansion of wind and solar energy.  Companies compete in these tenders to receive financial support for renewable electricity.  "There are already instruments that we can use — and we will create more — so that by 2030 we will have created about 25 gigawatts of additional alternative capacity to coal-fired power plants."  These would be powered by natural gas, and later hydrogen "as soon as possible," he said.  His government would present a "power plant strategy" by the summer.

Gas Ranges Targeted in Class Action Suit Against LG.  A class action suit filed in California alleges LG Electronics USA, Inc. sold gas range stoves in the United States without properly notifying customers of toxic emissions prior to their purchases.  The suit comes as the industry faces attacks and efficiency proposals by the Biden administration that would remove up to half the current gas range ovens on the U.S. market.  A California woman who purchased an LG gas stove from Costco in October 2022 claims in the suit that she was unaware of the "risks" associated with the product before purchasing.

[The San Francisco] Bay Area [is] making climate change history by phasing out sales of gas furnaces and water heaters.  As soon as this month, air quality officials in the San Francisco Bay Area are expected to adopt the nation's first rules phasing out new gas-fueled water heaters and furnaces in homes and businesses starting in 2027.  When they do, it will mark a significant step in the effort to curb health-damaging and planet-warming emissions from buildings.  The California Air Resources Board adopted plans last year to phase out sales of gas water heaters and furnaces statewide by 2030 but isn't going to consider setting rules to do so until 2025.  The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates emissions across much of Southern California, is also years behind.  Once again, the Bay Area leads the state on environmental innovation.

The Editor says...
The MSN writer assumes a lot of things that are not necessarily true:  Can the writer prove that natural gas furnaces have damaged anyone's health or measurably warmed the planet (outside the buildings in which they are used)?  The whole article sounds like it was written by Democratic Party activists, which is likely the case.

John Kerry Condemns Fossil Fuels That "Heat Our Homes" and "Propel Our Vehicles".  John Kerry condemned fossil fuels during remarks at the 2023 Our Ocean Conference in Panama.  Biden's so-called Climate Envoy John Kerry traveled all the way to Brazil and Panama this week to lecture on the virtues of making sacrifices to stop climate change.  John Kerry said we are facing a climate change crisis because of "how we live" and the choices we make on a daily basis.  "That crisis is caused by unabated emissions from fossil fuels that burn so that we can propel our vehicles, heat our homes, light our businesses," John Kerry said.

Minnesota joins growing movement to ban new homes from having any gas at all.  A growing number of states and cities are considering or implementing bans for the future construction of not just gas stoves, but natural gas hookups themselves, a move that would raise costs for consumers and potentially have negative environmental consequences, natural gas advocates told the Daily Caller News Foundation.  Lawmakers in the state of Minnesota introduced legislation this month that would permit the state's Commissioner of Labor and Industry to amend the state's energy code to "mitigate the impact of climate change," a directive that could be used to justify a ban on natural gas, according to the free-market Minnesota think-tank Center of the American Experiment.  California and New York are weighing statewide bans which would not only increase costs but may not have the climate benefits advocates hope for, Dan Kish, senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research told the DCNF.  "Natural gas is our cleanest fossil [fuel] and it is responsible for the U.S.  reducing carbon dioxide emissions more than other countries, largely because we have centuries of the stuff," Kish told the DCNF.

Turns Out They Are Coming for Your Gas Stoves.  A new Biden administration rule on cooking appliances would effectively ban half of all gas stoves on the U.S.  market from being sold, according to an Energy Department projection.  In an analysis published earlier this month, President Joe Biden's Energy Department acknowledged that roughly half of all gas stoves on the U.S.  market today would not meet its proposed cooking appliance efficiency regulations, E&E News reported Friday.  As a result, those stoves would not be eligible for purchase.  Still, Energy Department spokesman Jeremy Ortiz dismissed concerns over the proposal, saying half the gas stove market "would remain if this standard is finalized as proposed."  The Energy Department's admission comes roughly one month after U.S.  Consumer Product Safety commissioner Richard Trumka Jr., a Biden appointee, said a gas stove ban was "on the table."  "This is a hidden hazard," Trumka Jr.  said of gas cooking.  "Any option is on the table.  Products that can't be made safe can be banned."

Biden Is Still After Your Gas Stoves.  Shortly after a Biden administration official boasted about how the federal government might ban gas stoves for being "unsafe," the White House reassured the public that no such ban was in the works.  We warned readers at the time not to believe such reassurances because "once this sort of train starts moving there is often no stopping it."  That was in early January.  It took less than a month for the Biden administration to prove us right.  Earlier this month, the Department of Energy released a proposed rule that, if implemented, would essentially regulate gas stoves out of existence.

Gas Stove Bans: Everything You Need to Know To Fight Back!.  Mention of a ban on gas stoves recently caused a national uproar.  Closer to home the New York State Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act(CLCPA) implementation plan calls for zero-emission equipment, including stoves, in new and existing buildings.  When pressed about New York's plans Governor Hochul said "I know it's a concern because a lot of people are misrepresenting what this is all about."  I think the misrepresentation is on the part of the Hochul Administration[.]  I submitted comments on the Climate Act implementation plan and have written over 275 articles about New York's net-zero transition because I believe the ambitions for a zero-emissions economy embodied in the Climate Act outstrip available renewable technology such that the net-zero transition will do more harm than good.

Those attacks on gas stoves aren't really about health.  Earlier this month, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that indoor gas stoves emit harmful pollution and that a ban on selling new ones was, to quote one of the agency's commissioners, "on the table."  Several studies claim that the use of gas can cause respiratory illness.  The CPSC is considering restrictions on gas stoves, including possible bans in new residential construction.  But attacks on gas stoves are based on questionable science and are largely driven by concerns not related to health.

Forget stoves!  There's a growing movement to ban new homes from having any gas at all.  A growing number of states and cities are considering or implementing bans for the future construction of not just gas stoves, but natural gas hookups themselves, a move that would raise costs for consumers and potentially have negative environmental consequences, natural gas advocates told the Daily Caller News Foundation.  Lawmakers in the state of Minnesota introduced legislation Wednesday that would permit the state's Commissioner of Labor and Industry to amend the state's energy code to "mitigate the impact of climate change," a directive that could be used to justify a ban on natural gas, according to the free-market Minnesota think-tank Center of the American Experiment.  California and New York are weighing statewide bans which would not only increase costs, but may not have the climate benefits advocates hope for, Dan Kish, senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research told the DCNF.

The Truth About Biden's Would-Be Gas Stove Ban Comes Out.  Since the initial dust-up in early January, the Biden administration and its media allies have run a relentless campaign to pretend as if concerns over a federal gas stove ban were made up by Republicans.  Unfortunately for them, the internet is forever, and commentary by administration officials, including CPSC head Alexander Hoehn-Saric, made it clear the idea was on the table.  Democrat politicians also defended the possible move, claiming that gas stoves cause childhood asthma.  For several days, you were treated as an idiot who wanted to harm kids if you didn't think gas stoves should be banned.  Even the late-night TV shows were talking about, and then suddenly, everything changed.  The press started to put out stories asserting that Biden was never going to ban gas stoves and that it was simply a moral panic created by the right.  That wasn't true, but it served as a useful way to abscond from the fact that the administration had backtracked due to the backlash.

Asian Americans react to possible federal ban on gas stoves due to health risks and emissions.  When Charlene Luo was looking for a condo to buy in 2021, she had two nonnegotiable requirements:  one, enough space to host friends for dinner; and two, a gas stove with the capacity to install a powerful range hood.  Luo, a data scientist, cooks every day and hosts a supper club from time to time in her Brooklyn apartment.  She prefers a gas stove because she cooks with a wok, the deep, sloping pan that is the best vessel for preparing Sichuan dishes. [...] The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is reviewing gas stoves, citing studies about the health risks and effects on global warming caused by their emissions.  "Any option is on the table.  Products that can't be made safe can be banned," commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said in an interview with Bloomberg.

After His State Takes Away Gas Stoves, Sen. Schumer Falsely Claims "Nobody is Taking Away Your Gas Stove".  Political discourse is skipping right past the "make a good argument" stage to the "lying right to your face" stage. [...] Schumer also tweeted that Republicans were, "cooking up a silly, shameless, and desperate narrative that Democrats are coming for your gas stove."  Fact Check:  Infinity pinnochios.  The governor of his own state has proposed a gas stove ban. [...] Yes, they want to ban your stove, your car, your home and your life.  It's what they do.  And they lie about it non-stop until they're ready to do it.

Those Attacks on Gas Stoves Aren't Really about Health.  Earlier this month, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced that indoor gas stoves emitted harmful pollution.  Several studies claim that the use of gas can cause respiratory illness.  The CPSC is considering restrictions on gas stoves, including possible bans in new residential construction.  But attacks on gas stoves are based on questionable science and are largely driven by concerns not related to health.  The CPSC has reportedly been considering actions on gas stoves since October.  Richard Trumpka, Jr., a CPSC commissioner, stated "This is a hidden hazard.  Any option is on the table.  Products that can't be made safe can be banned."  Two recent studies figure prominently in agency concerns.  The first, published in January last year by Eric Lebel and others, found that gas stoves and ovens emit hazardous levels of methane and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).  The second, published in December last year by Talor Gruenwald and others, estimated that 12.7 percent of childhood asthma cases in the US were due to gas stove use.  Nitrous oxide (NO) is produced at combustion temperatures above 1,600°C by breaking down nitrogen molecules in air.  Modern stove burner flames reach temperatures above 1,600°C, producing NO.  The nitrous oxide then combines with oxygen to form nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant.  But the amount of NO2 generated by stoves is very small, only parts per billion (ppb) levels.

Responding to the demands of almost nobody...
Energy Department proposes efficiency rules for cooking devices after gas stove furor.  The Department of Energy is proposing new energy conservation standards for new household gas and electric cooking devices, some of which have never been subject to federal efficiency standards.  DOE's proposed rule-making, published Wednesday, follows the recent political frenzy over the fate of gas stoves that was ignited after a federal regulator at the Consumer Product Safety Commission said his agency could ban them to reduce indoor air pollution.  The proposed rule-making would set new efficiency standards for both electric and gas cooking tops, preventing them from exceeding set levels of energy use per year.

The Editor says...
[#1] What does that last sentence mean?  If your stove exceeds "set levels of energy use per year" while you're cooking your Christmas dinner, will it quit working for the rest of the year?  Who would benefit from that?  [#2] We have a centuries-old system of elected representatives in this country, which the regulatory agencies are bypassing, in order to justify their continued existence.  If everybody opposes natural gas, we will let our Congressmen know, and they'll vote to phase it out.  That will never happen, of course, because natural gas is a very popular and feasible alternative to electricity or coal or firewood.

Fossil Future, Part 1.  I am going to try to persuade you of something that might seem impossible:  that one of the best things you can do to make the world a better place is to fight for more fossil fuel use — more use of oil, coal, and natural gas.  My case for expanding humanity's massive fossil fuel use might seem unworthy of even considering given that it totally contradicts what trusted sources tell us is the consensus of virtually all experts, but consider that 1) we know that sometimes what we're told is the "expert" view turns out to be catastrophically wrong, and 2) the "expert" view that we should rapidly eliminate fossil fuel use is a radical and potentially disastrous change in how we use energy. [...] Fossil fuels are a uniquely cost-effective source of energy, providing energy that is 1) low-cost, 2) on-demand, 3) versatile, and 4) on a scale of billions of people in thousands of places — which is why they are growing around the world, above all in places that care most about cost-effective energy, such as China.  Cost-effective energy is essential to human flourishing (our ability to live long, healthy, opportunity-filled lives) because the more cost-effective energy is, the more people can use the miracle of "machine labor" to produce vital material values such as food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.

It's Not Just Gas Stoves Democrats Are Coming For.  Earlier this month, Biden's Consumer Product Safety Commission announced that it opposed gas stoves and was looking at ways to eliminate them, prompting an outcry over the coming ban.  But climate scolds aren't just looking to ban your gas stove, America.  They have a long list of other appliances they want canceled, too.  On Jan. 9, the CPSC pointed out that about 35 percent of U.S. households use gas stoves, and then warned of the dangers of their use. [...] The nanny state move was further complicated by the fact that the study, used by CPSC, warning that gas stoves promote asthma in kids was partly funded by RMI, a group that seeks to "accelerate the clean energy transition," and was co-authored by Brady Seals, the manager of RMI's Carbon-Free Buildings arm, which aims to retrofit buildings with electric appliances.  In turn, RMI, which used the study to promote stove electrification, has received at least $1 million in donations from Breakthrough Energy, a "green energy" investment firm founded by Bill Gates, as well as the Bezos Earth Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies, according to the 2022 RMI donors report.

Gas bags: Progressive war on your stove is very real.  The first clue is the kinder, gentler puff pieces appearing in the op-ed sections of the usual suspects.  They pooh-pooh sane people's dismissal of the recent, pretty thoroughly debunked BOMBSHELL STUDY.  You know.  The one where they measured all these horrific toxic chemicals flooding the air while cooking on gas stoves... in kitchens encased in sheets of plastic sealed with dust-proof ZipWall barriers?  [Tweet]  Yeah.  That's the one.  Not surprisingly, the New York Times has jumped on the "simmer down" bandwagon.  Quit trying to deny they're bad for you and Mother Gaia.  Let us lead you to the wonderful world of induction!

The Billionaires Behind The Gas Bans.  The Climate Imperative Foundation is the newest and richest anti-hydrocarbon, anti-natural gas group you've never heard of.  How rich is Climate Imperative?  According to the latest report from Guidestar, the group took in $221 million in its first full year of operation.  (Guidestar calls the income "gross receipts.")  That means that Climate Imperative, which is less than three years old, is already taking in more cash than the Sierra Club, which bills itself as the "nation's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization."  According to Guidestar, the Sierra Club collected $180 million in its latest reporting year.  Climate Imperative is also taking in more money than the Rocky Mountain Institute which collected about $130 million in its latest reporting year.  I use those groups for comparison because they are pushing anti-gas initiatives across the country.

Democrats, eco groups take aim at other home appliances amid gas stove debate.  Democrats and far-left green groups have set their sights on regulating a wide range of popular household appliances in a bid to push their broader electrification and climate agenda.  The push to regulate everyday appliances — including water heaters, furnaces, clothes washers, dishwashers, ceiling fans, microwave ovens and shower heads — comes as the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers continue to set lofty net-zero and climate goals for weaning off fossil fuel dependence.  Environmentalists have argued that electrification, banning natural gas hookups and implementing strict energy efficiency standards could help accelerate emissions reductions.  "There's bad news for almost every room in the house," Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview. "Climate activists and the Biden administration want homeowners to stop using natural gas and to electrify everything.  That would affect appliances that come in natural gas and electric versions such as stoves, but also heating systems and water heaters."

PBS: 'Why Are So Many Americans and [GOP] Lawmakers Still Enthralled With Gas?'.  The Thursday evening edition of the PBS NewsHour devoted 11 minutes to the apparent foolishness... of cooking with gas.  Science correspondent Miles O'Brien condescendingly mocked anyone who would dare not throw out their gas stoves and purchase more expensive induction stoves, given the obvious health hazards of natural gas (a danger the liberal press learned about a few days go and won't stop shrieking over).

Democrat-led cities are already moving forward with gas stove bans that will affect millions.  Democratic leaders in major cities nationwide have already moved forward with bans on natural gas stoves even as the Biden administration has pumped the brakes on similar regulations at the federal level.  Cities including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and New York City — which are collectively home to more than 10 million Americans — have enacted varying restrictions on natural gas hookups impacting gas-powered furnaces, ovens and stoves.  Leaders of the Democrat-led cities have argued that transitioning away from natural gas would help achieve climate and net-zero ambitions.

The Editor says...
Nobody thought gas appliances were a problem until about two weeks ago.  And now there's a mad rush to get rid of them, for reasons that are never mentioned because their reasons are so stupid!

JPMorgan Chase CEO Warns Against Halt to Gas Use on CNBC; Musk Agrees.  JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon dealt leftists a dose of energy infrastructure reality on CNBC's Squawk Box Thursday [1/19/2023].  While leftists are busy calling for Americans to chuck their gas stoves off a cliff in the name of climate change, Dimon quipped, "We need oil and gas," when Squawk Box co-host Joe Kernen asked him whether stakeholders will increase pressure on companies to pursue Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies.  Dimon said it would take "50 years" to transition away from oil and gas completely.  "It's a hundred million barrels a day that are used to heat, fuel, [and] feed people."  Dimon's comments are simply common sense.  Anyone with a watt of common sense realizes that an entire nation cannot merely switch its method of energy production and consumption overnight.

Bay Area Regulators Want To Ban Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters.  If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may soon have to give up your natural gas heaters.  On March 15, regulators will decide if they will ban new propane water heaters and furnaces, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.  Residents would have to replace their broken gas units with electric appliances, starting in 2027 for most water heaters and in 2029 for furnaces.  The sweeping proposal from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's board is similar to a recent move by the Biden administration to crack down on gas stoves because of their alleged link to childhood asthma.  The news drew immediate public outrage, which the media described as the latest twist in the "culture wars."

Meet the Green Energy Group Behind the Study That's Driving Calls To Ban Gas Stoves.  The green energy group behind a study cited in Consumer Product Safety commissioner Richard Trumka Jr.'s call to ban gas stoves has partnered with the Chinese government to implement an "economy-wide transformation" away from oil and gas.  Colorado-based nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute, which published the December study that attributes 13 percent of U.S. childhood asthma cases to gas-stove use, is hardly staffed by an objective group of scientists. [...] The Rocky Mountain Institute is far from the first green energy group to advocate for the banning of gas stoves, which nearly 40 percent of U.S. homes use.  But the nonprofit's newfound influence reflects the Biden administration's alignment with the left's loudest climate activists.  President Joe Biden has already proposed a natural gas phaseout in federal buildings, which would ban fossil-fuel equipment in new buildings by 2030.

CNN host accidentally EXPOSES real motives for gas stove ban live on-air.  Every once in a while, left-wing propagandists will accidentally blurt out the truth.  That's exactly what happened on CNN the other day when one of the network's hosts was discussing the Biden administration's proposed war on gas stoves.  While the official party line from the federal government claimed that gas stoves needed to be phased out to prevent childhood asthma, CNN let slip that there is a bigger motive behind the move.  [Video clip]

The Gas Stove Scare Is A Fraud Created By Climate Change Authoritarians.  In the past I have often tried to take a big picture approach to the issues facing the American public and how there is almost always a deeper connection between a variety of political and economic events.  And, what has become increasingly clear to me is that in order to understand government actions and geopolitics, you must always ask yourself "Who benefits?" [...] Right now I'd like to take a look at a relatively small issue and how the little dominoes lead up to a bigger con game and a bigger disaster.  Let's talk about gas stoves.  Frankly, I don't care about what my stove uses to cook with as long as it works.  That said, around 38% of US households use natural gas for cooking and heating.  That's a significant percentage of people that rely on gas based energy for their daily needs.  Here's the problem, though — Natural gas is not politically correct these days.  Nearly all carbon emitting energy sources have been marked by climate activists and western governments as a threat that needs to be erased between 2030 [and] 2050.

Who was behind that greenie push to ban gas stoves?  The call to ban gas stoves in the U.S., based on environmental concerns, certainly drew backlash from an angry public tired of seeing their household appliances, critical possessions and standard of living being targeted.  After all, they've already gotten our incandescent light bulbs and flush toilets in many quarters.  They've meddled with the design of our cars and guns.  They're trying to get our meat, telling us to eat bugs instead.  Many consumers, and professional chefs, who say gas is best for cooking, simply put their collective foot down.  Where did this lunacy come from?  About where you'd expect — from our enemies.

No, New Study Does Not Link Gas Stoves with Asthma in Children.  Here is a quick summary of the some of study's principle flaws, in no particular order:
  •   It's not actual research on children.  It is a meta-analysis of previously published (and ignored) studies — a study of otherwise unpersuasive studies.  The authors did a literature search for previous epidemiologic studies on gas stoves and asthma in kids and then just mixed those results together in an effort to contrive statistical significance.  This is a bogus technique for a number of reasons including publications bias in the component studies — i.e., studies with null results aren't published.
  •   The study results, including the component studies, are weak statistical associations — i.e., noise range correlations. The study results, likely including the component studies, are not statistically significant either.
  •   Asthma is an allergic disease.  There are no allergens in natural gas.  So the study has no biological plausibility.  No one knows what causes asthma in children and so competing causes could not be ruled out.
  •   The claim that gas stoves are responsible for 12% of childhood asthma — an epidemiologic concept called "attributable risk" — is entirely bogus because epidemiological studies can only be used to associate exposures with disease.  They cannot be used to determine risk of disease because (1) the underlying data is not representative of the population; and (2) epidemiologic studies are just statistics (i.e., correlation is not causation) and cannot be used by themselves to determine cause-and-effect relationships.

GOP bill blocks Biden admin from banning gas stoves: 'Regulation run amok'.  House Republicans introduced legislation on Thursday that would prohibit the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from banning gas stoves, after the agency indicated an interest in aggressively regulating or even banning the common kitchen cooking appliance used in millions of homes.  Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and 43 House Republicans introduced the GAS Act, which is aimed at making sure the possibility of a ban is taken off the kitchen table.  "The Biden Administration's clear consideration to ban an appliance used by more than 40 million homes and 76 percent of restaurants is worse than Green New Deal-style regulation run amok," Issa said.  "It is a preposterous overreach of federal power that would deny Americans a necessary product they use every day."

Gas-stove ban is off, claims Biden, but many are skeptical.  Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, and millions of natural gas-cooking Americans can breathe a little easier: Both President Biden and the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission say they have no plans to ban natural gas stoves.  White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said yesterday that Biden "does not support banning gas stoves."  Jean-Pierre pointed to a clarifying statement by the head of the CPSC to buttress her point.  "I want to set the record straight.  Contrary to recent media reports, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the [CPSC] has no proceeding to do so," Alex Hoehn-Saric, chair of CPSC, tweeted yesterday. [...] Conservatives had a field day exploiting the apparent floating of a potential ban on popular natural gas stoves, showing photos of First Lady Jill Biden, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other top Democrats cooking with gas.  Others noted that the main study launching the discussion was authored by writers tied to two climate-change advocacy groups.

The Green War on Natural Gas Heats Up.  Historically, those on the left never saw an energy source they liked.  Americans who have been around for a few decades remember the protests at nuclear power plants.  Then there is the war on coal which has been largely successful and continues unabated.  But something can and should be said for having a diversity of power available.  If one supply goes down, there has always been another.  But it appears the ability to pick and choose is now under fire.  On Jan. 14, Liberty Nation's Sarah Cowgill reported on Governor Kathy Hochul's natural gas ban in New York, which will take place over the next ten years.  This will mean approximately 60% of New Yorkers will have to transition their homes to electric everything from water heaters to stoves and ovens — the whole enchilada.  Dictating energy sources is a dicey business because it takes away a consumer's freedom of choice.  This has become so troubling that 20 states have already passed laws that make it illegal to block natural gas hookups.

Talk about Gaslighting!.  The Biden Administration has beat a hasty retreat from the trial balloon of banning natural gas stoves and other appliances, but this is likely only because they got caught before the bureaucratic rule-making machinery of the administrative state could make it fait accompli and provide cover for Democratic politicians.  You know in your bones the authoritarian climatistas are determined to ban all natural gas use that they can.  As Jim Geraghty pointed out at National Review, "When a member of a federal commission says 'any option is on the table' and 'products that can't be made safe can be banned,' you cannot say that 'fears of a ban are unfounded.'"  I'm so old I can remember back in the 1980s when the air quality regulators in Los Angeles wanted to ban backyard charcoal barbecues and fast-food drive-through windows even though they had barely negligible air pollution impacts even with the most generous computer "models" of pollution attribution.

Biden Is Coming for Your Gas Stove.  Compelling Americans to give up fossil fuels, gas stoves, and other gas-fired appliances is not a vice for the Biden administration.  Now more than ever, the administration's climate change police are coming after cooks and Americans who heat their homes with natural gas.  Consistent with this prospect, the Wall Street Journal editorial board concludes that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is poised to ban gas stoves soon.  A puritanical war on fossil fuels drives this possibility.  It follows a destructive pattern designed to impoverish and control American citizens.  President Biden has consistently claimed that climate change is the greatest threat to American security.  He argues that Americans must embrace an ambitious climate action plan to prevent the cruelest impacts of climate change as part of the global transition to clean energy technology.  Spurred by the Biden administration's climate change fantasy, the federal government is working tirelessly to make fossil fuels scarcer and more unavailable.  This wearisome campaign represents a surrender to far-left environmentalists, who are committed to making natural gas, petroleum, and all forms of fossil fuel more expensive for working people.

About that gas stove ban... Never mind.  Yesterday we discussed the ridiculous idea of a federal ban on gas stoves floated by Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka.  This crazy idea was quickly panned far and wide, particularly by chefs and others in the restaurant industry.  The outrage over this latest woke nonsense was great enough that it caught the attention of government officials who realized that they had clearly picked up a live political grenade and were looking for somewhere to throw it.  By the end of the evening, CPSC Chairman Alexander D. Hoehn-Saric issued a "clarifying" statement, saying that he was "not looking to ban gas stoves" and his commission "has no proceeding to do so."  Perhaps government idiocy isn't quite as bulletproof as many of us had previously assumed.

First They Came For My Showerhead And I Did Nothing, Then They Came For My Light Bulbs And I Did Nothing, Now They Want My Gas Stove.  The news that the federal government is seriously considering a ban on the sale of gas stoves caught many normal Americans off guard.  It shouldn't have.  Nor should they believe it when a regulator says they won't actually ever ban the thing.  In recent decades, regulators have wormed their way into every corner of our lives — banning some products, ruining others, and pricing others out of reach of working families — all allegedly for our benefit.  The only thing that's surprising is that they hadn't targeted gas stoves earlier.  This week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said that gas appliances — used in 40 million U.S. homes and every commercial kitchen on the planet — are in fact a "hidden hazard" that could be banned if they can't be "made safe."

Gov. Hochul quietly sneaks in proposal to ban sale of gas stoves, fuels outrage across New York.  Gov. Kathy Hochul quietly snuck a proposal to outlaw new gas stoves into the "New York Housing Compact" she unveiled during her State of the State speech Tuesday — urging people to ditch their kitchens' gas grills and go electric.  The ban would affect old-timers and millennials who are obsessed with cast-iron pans, which are tricky to use on electric stoves.  "This is plain stupid," said a 70-year-old resident of Sea Gate, Brooklyn, who gave his name as Victor K.  "We lost electricity before, during Hurricane Sandy.  The only thing we had to heat up our food was gas.  What if that happens again?"  Hochul's plan would ban gas stoves, hot water heaters and oil furnaces in both new home and commercial construction by the end of the decade.

The Editor says...
Isn't the demand for electricity already as great as the supply, with the addition of electric cars, Bitcoin mining, and marijuana farms?  Now millions of homes and restaurants will need electric power like never before.  The only way around this lunacy is if every restaurant installs a natural gas-powered generator!  That's assuming natural gas isn't outlawed entirely — to save the Earth.

AOC Says Gas Stoves Cause 'Brain Damage,' Then Photos Emerge of Her Cooking on Gas At Home.  Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) attempted to defend Biden's proposed ban on gas stoves in a viral Twitter spat Tuesday — only to make a fool of herself in public again.

Experts Warn Gas Stoves Are 'Suddenly' Causing Children To Have Heart Attacks.  Experts are now warning that gas stoves are 'suddenly' causing children and young adults to suffer fatal heart attacks.  According to Biden administration officials, the banning of gas stoves has now become one of their top priorities after experts warned that their use is not only dangerous to human health but also contributes to 'man-made climate change.'

Biden official backs off gas stove ban talk after backlash.  A Biden-appointed commissioner at the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission tried to turn down the temperature after a report that the agency was considering a national ban on gas stoves because they emit harmful pollutants.  Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg that the appliances are a "hidden hazard" in a story published Monday. "Any option is on the table.  Products that can't be made safe can be banned," he told the news outlet.  Trumka — the son of late AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka — later clarified that any new regulation would only pertain to new appliances after he was called out on Twitter by Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.).  "Over 40 million American households use gas stoves," Palmer wrote.  "This type of power should never have been given to unelected bureaucrats and it is time for it to end."

The Editor says...
Properly operating gas stoves do not "emit harmful pollutants."  The only byproducts of natural gas combustion are carbon dioxide, water vapor, and lots of heat.  Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.

American Gas Association Says Possible Ban On Gas Stoves 'Reckless,' Not Based On 'Sound Science'.  The American Gas Association (AGA) has taken aim at what it calls a"reckless" potential ban on gas stoves, and said a report linking the use of natural gas for cooking with asthma is "not substantiated by sound science."  AGA represents more than 200 local energy companies that deliver natural gas to more than 73 million customers throughout the United States.  In a statement on Jan. 10, the association criticized research in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health that linked indoor gas stoves with an increased risk of respiratory illnesses like asthma in children.  The research was led by researchers at RMI, an organization that advocates for climate-friendly, carbon-free buildings, and other environmental groups.  The research, which has been peer-reviewed, concluded that 12.7 percent of current childhood asthma nationwide is attributed to gas stove use.

Not just stoves.  NY to ban all gas appliances.  Yesterday we looked at the federal government's suggestion that they may either ban all gas stoves in the country or require expensive emission control modifications.  This is supposedly being done as a public health measure, but under the covers, it seems like yet another covert attempt to eliminate fossil fuel use in America.  That move, if it happens, clearly won't be enough for the state of New York, where Governor Kathy Hochul will always try to bring her green energy one-upmanship game to the table.  During her State of the State speech yesterday, Hochul pledged to not only do away with gas stoves but all natural gas appliances over the next decade.  Thankfully, the ban would only apply to new construction projects in the initial phases.

Really? They want to ban gas stoves now?  The Consumer Product Safety Commission is opening a period of public comments on the "dangers of gas stoves."  We'll get to the supposed dangers in a moment, but if a regulatory agency like the USCPSC is already to the point of taking public comments, one of two things is almost certainly on the way.  They will either impose emission limits on the stoves, no doubt driving up the cost and/or reducing efficiency, or they will ban the stoves altogether.  Either way, somebody is about to make a boatload of money, and it won't be the consumers.

Biden administration gas stove ban idea leaves NYC restaurants feeling burned.  During a Friday night dinner rush, executive chef Peter Petti will have stainless steel pots of pasta water boiling while searing salmon and steaks, all 12 burners ignited on the gas stoves at Sojourn, a New American restaurant on the Upper East Side.  Nearly everything on his menu — from a 30-day, dry-aged NY strip to a chocolate flambeed dessert — is cooked on the range.  "Some dishes require two or three pans on the burners," said Petti, 45, who's been cooking with gas since the beginning of his culinary career in the early 2000s, when he started as a line cook at Eleven Madison Park.  The Feds, however, can't stand the heat.  On Monday, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said it was considering a nationwide ban on gas stoves, which are currently used in 37% of US households and 76% of US restaurants, according to Consumer Reports and the National Restaurant Association.  The safety commission cited recent reports that gas stoves emit unsafe levels of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide and have been linked to cancers, respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular problems.  But the city's chefs and restaurateurs are fuming at the possibility of a ban and the devastating effect it could have on the health of their businesses.

Keywords:  Lobbyists, echo chamber, talking points.
The Creepy Cult Surrounding the Gas Stove Panic Gets Exposed.  If you've been on social media the last day or so, you've probably noticed there's a moral panic occurring over gas stoves.  According to Democrats far and wide, they are dangerous, cause asthma, and must be banned by the federal government.  As RedState reported, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pushed that line on Tuesday, resulting in much mockery given she herself has a gas stove.  But what's astonishing is that amidst her absolute certainty on the topic, she had never even mentioned the issue prior.  [Tweet]  In other words, in the span of just 24 hours, Ocasio-Cortez saw some questionable study, promoted it on the internet, gained legions of supporters for her position, and then tried to pretend that everyone else had been ignoring her desperate calls.  As Charles W. Cook notes, it's cultish behavior.  Is there anything the New York congresswoman could say that her army of simps wouldn't agree with?  And none of them even gave a second thought as to whether what she was saying was true or made any sense.  It wasn't just Ocasio-Cortez, though.  Other Democrats lined up to preach the dangers of gas stoves, having all suddenly become experts on the matter.  [Tweet]

Consumer Safety Commission Walks Back Gas-Stove Threat amid Backlash.  U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission chairman Alexander D. Hoehn-Saric issued a statement Wednesday assuring the public that his agency has no intention of banning gas stoves after a commission official drew the ire of the cooking public by suggesting the appliances might be banned in the near future due to the alleged health threat they pose to Americans.  "Over the past several days, there has been a lot of attention paid to gas stove emissions and to the Consumer Product Safety Commission," Hoehn-Saric wrote in an official statement released Wednesday.  "To be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so."  Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. had originally told Bloomberg News that fears over air quality caused by gas stoves was creating "a hidden hazard."  "Any option is on the table.  Products that can't be made safe can be banned," Trumka Jr. insisted.  The comments came following Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) and Representative Don Beyer (D., Va.) urging the federal agency to investigate the issue due to its allegedly disproportionate impact on black, Latino, and low-income households.

The Editor says...
Wait, is this a solution to global warming, air pollution, asthma, or access/equity/fairness/racism?

Biden Administration Considers Banning Gas Stoves over Health Concerns.  A federal agency may look to ban gas stoves over concern about the release of pollutants that can cause health and respiratory problems, according to a new report.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is set to open public comment on the dangers of gas stoves sometime this winter.  The commission could set standards on emissions from the gas stoves, or even look to ban the manufacture or import of the appliances, commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg News.  "This is a hidden hazard," Trumka told the outlet. "Any option is on the table.  Products that can't be made safe can be banned."

The Editor says...
The government is really good at solving problems nobody has.  If gas appliances are unsafe, when did that start?  We had gas appliances when I was a little kid (in the 1960s), and they never hurt anybody.  Back then, my perception was that only the wealthy could afford all-electric homes, and that did not include us!

Brickbat: Bad Gas.  The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has passed rules that could make it more difficult and more expensive to build new natural gas pipelines or extend existing ones in the state.  The rules require regulators to sign off on any pipeline construction plans by natural gas utilities with more than 90,000 customers.  Utilities would have to pay the full costs of pipelines up front.  Democratic Gov. Jared Polis has set a goal for natural gas utilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4 percent by 2025 and by 22 percent by 2030.

New Colorado rules could limit natural gas line construction, expansion.  Natural gas for heating, cooking and hot water could be harder — or more expensive — to come by with the advent of new Colorado rules scrutinizing new gas line construction, or extending existing lines.  New rules affecting gas utility companies have the potential to limit system expansion and increase the costs of installing natural gas in new construction, say officials at the Colorado Energy Office.  Xcel Energy officials warned the new rules have the potential to, for all intents and purposes, ban line extensions.

Fossil Fuels Keep Us Warm and Secure During Winter Months.  As a historic bomb cyclone ravages much of the country, this extreme weather event has killed at least 20 people and put travel at a standstill.  And it doesn't help those in distress — or without power — feel secure when many in the media fear monger about climate change correlating with winter weather.  More reassuringly, however, conditions aren't worse.  Why?  Continued reliance on fossil fuels keeps us warm and provides energy security.  Much to the Biden administration's dismay, net zero policies will make extreme winter events difficult to weather.

The Truth About Natural Gas: A Wellspring for the U.S. and Global Energy Future.  Americans are waking up to the fact that anti-energy policies are spiking prices and limiting access to energy.  At the same time, the world is discovering that energy independence plays a critical role in ensuring nations can control their own destinies.  Energy disruptions and runaway prices are hindering investment and development at the state level.  Michigan, Texas, California, and many other states have aging and increasingly fragile energy infrastructures that have come dangerously close to failure, or have experienced significant outages in the recent past.  The nation is experiencing systemic pressures that are stressing the abilities of states to create and deliver reliable and affordable energy to residents and businesses.  Energy security strengthens a nation's status and stature as a reliable energy producer and exporter and promotes both national security and quality of life.  The opportunity to return to energy independence is currently facing the Unites States: natural gas is a wellspring of wealth and security for America and a foundation for the world's energy future.

AES Indiana says converting 1,052 MW of coal to gas will be $381M cheaper than renewables and storage.  AES Indiana plans to convert two coal-fired units totaling 1,052 MW at its Petersburg power plant to natural gas in 2025, which the utility estimates would be $381 million less expensive over 20 years compared with replacing the generating station with renewable energy and storage.  In the near term, The AES Corp. subsidiary's integrated resource plan also calls for adding 240 MW of storage, up to 900 MW of wind, 90 MW of solar combined with storage and 75 MW of stand-alone solar by 2027, depending on the cost, according to a [recent] presentation on the pending plan.

Austria sues European Union, claiming natural gas and nuclear energy are not 'green'.  Austria is taking the European Union to court over plans to characterize natural gas and nuclear power generation as sustainable energies amid efforts to fight climate change.  The Austrian government on Friday filed a lawsuit with the EU's top court over the classification used to define clean energy resources.  The EU's executive Commission plans to add certain nuclear and gas plants next year to a list that helps investors determine which projects are sustainable.  Austria's environment minister, Leonore Gewessler, warned that the measure could "greenwash" nuclear power and gas despite the environmental damage they cause.

Green agenda now demands elimination of natural gas in homes nationwide.  The green agenda coalition now is demanding the elimination of natural gas furnaces and appliances in homes nationwide, a move that could trigger replacements costs of $12,000 for homeowners.  And the plan is being slammed as representing a federal government "out of control," according to a state lawmaker.  The plan is being pushed by the Sierra Club and dozens of other "environmental" groups, who are demanding the Environmental Protection Agency ban the use of natural gas for home heating[,] everywhere in the country.  The groups' petition claims that the federal agency absolutely has to regulate "deadly pollution" from the energy source.

Please use all-electric appliances — but only between midnight and sunrise.  Don't worry, the power grid won't collapse!
California moves to ban natural gas furnaces and heaters by 2030.  California is committing to a plan that will make it the first U.S. state to phase out gas-fueled furnaces and water heaters in homes, a move environmentalists are betting will provide a template for other states.  The Golden State will ban the sale of all new natural gas-fired space heaters and water-heating appliances by 2030, under a proposal unanimously approved by the California Air Resources Board on Thursday.  "We need to take every action we can to deliver on our commitments to protect public health from the adverse impacts of air pollution, and this strategy identifies how we can do just that," board Chair Liane Randolph said.  "While this strategy will clean the air for all Californians, it will also lead to reduced emissions in the many low-income and disadvantaged communities that experience greater levels of persistent air pollution.

California Moves to Ban Natural Gas Furnaces and Heaters by 2030.  California is committing to a plan that will make it the first US state to phase out gas-fueled furnaces and water heaters in homes, a move environmentalists are betting will provide a template for other states.  The Golden State will ban the sale of all new natural gas-fired space heaters and water heating appliances by 2030, under a proposal unanimously approved by the California Air Resources Board on Thursday.

Expensive New England winter is coming.  New England is approaching what grid officials and utility executives expect to be a very pricey winter for energy consumers and one that risks a shortage of energy during extended periods of extreme cold.  It's not an unfamiliar forecast for the region, where cold temperatures and natural gas pipeline constraints have a record of driving supply tightness, and thereby driving prices up, during cold winter months.  But this year, those pipeline constraints are overlaid by extremely competitive energy markets globally and fuel commodity prices that are already higher than normal going into winter.  That's led to warnings that $1,000 monthly utility bills could be in order.  At the heart of the challenge are New England's power generation and residential heating profile.  Natural gas accounted for 53% of the region's power in 2021, while gas is widely used for home heating.  In Massachusetts, more than half of households used gas to heat their homes in 2020.

Extremely dubious:
Gas stoves linked to asthma in children, adult cancers, scientist warns.  The more than 40 million households in the US who use a gas stove might want to consider an alternative.  New findings have shown that gas stoves — even when turned off — may cause asthma in children and put adults at risk of cancer.  Dr. Jonathan Levy, an environmental health professor at Boston University, claimed the stoves may pollute the air with nitrogen dioxide, which can cause lung damage.  The pollutant, a "byproduct of fuel combustion," is also the same that is produced on major highways, but since the kitchen is an enclosed space, it puts inhabitants at more risk.  The size of the home and the quality of ventilation also play a part, Levy said.

The Editor says...
Gas stoves are reasonably safe, when the risks are weighed against the benefits.  If there is too much nitrogen dioxide or radon or any other gas in your house, it's probably because the place is sealed up too tightly to allow any fresh air to come in.  If your kid has asthma or peanut allergies or cancer or autism, you should probably wonder about the barrage of vaccines he or she has had at an early age.

California governor calls for no new gas plants in climate fight.  California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced steps Friday [7/22/2022] to speed up the clean-energy transition and fight climate change, including an end to building gas-burning power plants, even as the move away from fossil fuels has threatened his state with blackouts and forced him to reconsider nuclear power.  Newsom said he would work with Sacramento legislators to pass a law requiring California to reach carbon neutrality, a goal set by his predecessor Jerry Brown in an executive order.  In a letter to the state's top climate change regulator, the Democratic governor also called for building offshore wind farms, deploying 6 million home heat pumps, requiring the aviation industry to increase its use of clean fuels, and setting firm targets for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using land management and machines designed for the task.  Perhaps most important, Newsom told the head of the California Air Resources Board that he doesn't want new natural-gas plants built in the state.

The Editor says...
The avoidance of carbon dioxide emissions and the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are both futile.  Any and all money spent on these activities is wasted.  China and India aren't wasting their time with projects like this, and they share the same atmosphere.

Los Angeles joins movement to ban new natural gas hookups to fight climate change.  As the nation looks for ways to cut fossil fuel emissions to meet ambitious carbon reduction goals, natural gas, that common household fuel staple loved by cooks, is feeling the heat.  So far, 77 cities and towns and Washington state have banned or discouraged new natural gas hookups.  Los Angeles became the latest to join the list when its City Council voted last week to rewrite building codes requiring new homes and buildings achieve zero-carbon emissions — effectively eliminating future natural gas lines.  Climate change experts say the shift is a necessary part of the nation's energy transformation.  About half of American homes use natural gas, and appliances burning natural gas make up 13% of U.S. greenhouse emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.  At least 95% of those emissions come from water heaters, stoves, furnaces and clothes dryers powered by natural gas.

The Editor says...
[#1] What could be more natural than natural gas?  If natural gas affects nature, why interrupt the process?  [#2] The opinions of "climate change experts" are the only ones that matter, apparently.  But how many years have the "experts" been squawking about the imminent arrival of an irreversible tipping point, beyond which the world is doomed, unless we stop using hydrocarbons for energy — without paying heavy taxes for it, that is.  [#3] Obviously, "water heaters, stoves, furnaces and clothes dryers powered by natural gas" are your only choice, if everyone goes out and buys an electric car, as the Democrats recommend, because the power grid will be operating at its newly-reduced capacity:  The tree-hugging baby-killing Democrats are doing away with nuclear power and coal-fired power plants (in addition to natural gas), leaving less electric supply at a time when the same busybodies are encouraging increased consumption.

Gas stoves and water heaters face a climate change reckoning.  In 2019, Berkeley became the first city in the country to ban gas stoves and water heaters in all new construction in order to cut down greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change.  Since then, dozens of others, including Seattle, San Francisco and New York, have followed suit with similar restrictions and President Biden has laid out an ambitious plan to help Americans ditch gas appliances and heaters in favor of electric ones.

The Editor says...
For those of you who have just tuned in, here is the other side of the argument about gas appliances:  [#1] Man-made "greenhouse gas emissions" are not necessarily "causing climate change;"  [#1A] Even if they are, the benefits are well worth it;  [#1B] The climate changes all the time anyway, no matter what we do;  [#1C] Nothing we do about "greenhouse gas emissions" makes any difference if China emits more than anybody else;  [#1D] Nothing we do about "greenhouse gas emissions" makes any difference if all the volcanos and termites in the world emit far more CO2 than we do;  [#1E] the rate of global warming is near zero at the moment, and whatever the rate of global warming may be, it's to tiny and too slow to notice;  [#2] The electricity which will power your new electric appliances (made in China by slaves) will have to come from a power plant, which means the "greenhouse gas emissions" will merely move to the power plant, and you've gained nothing, even if there's a problem to be solved, which there isn't.

Climate activists want to get rid of gas stoves, whether you like it or not.  Today [2/23/2021] the Washington Post published a story about the battle over the use of natural gas in homes and kitchens.  This is ultimately a battle between consumers, many of whom like their gas stoves, and activists who want to see gas removed from home heating and cooking in favor of electric appliances.  Naturally, this is a fight that began in Berkeley, California.

Natural Gas Bans Meeting Resistance from Reality.  Some 40 communities in California have implemented bans or restrictions on the use of natural gas, which have ignited a backlash from some of California's prominent Black and Latino leaders, who indicate that the prohibitions on the fuel are a form of regressive tax on low- and middle-income residents.  This battle over the future of residential and commercial use of natural gas in California is an example of regressive taxation.

This Natural Gas Plant Has Achieved Zero Emissions.  Just outside Houston, a company called NET Power has just brought a revolutionary new power plant online.  The company says it can burn natural gas while capturing 100% of carbon emissions, with no increase in the cost of electricity.  In this episode of "The Spark," we take you inside the world's first zero-emissions natural gas plant.

Other concerns about methane:

Researchers Fault EPA for Resisting Efforts to Verify Accuracy of Computer Models on Methane.  The Environmental Protection Agency should withdraw and reissue a proposed rule regulating methane emissions because it hasn't provided enough information to verify the computer modeling behind it, Heritage Foundation researchers say.  By violating the modeling requirements in the Clean Air Act, the federal law designed to reduce air pollution, EPA is operating under a double standard — one for itself, another for state agencies and other regulated agencies, the two researchers explain in comments submitted to EPA.  The researchers are Kevin Dayaratna, chief statistician in Heritage's Center for Data Analysis, and Mario Loyola, a senior research fellow at Heritage for environmental policy and regulation who also is a professor at Florida International University.  In January, President Joe Biden's EPA unfurled what it calls the Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems.  The agency's stated purpose:  to "impose and collect an annual charge on methane emissions that exceed specified waste emissions thresholds from applicable oil and gas facilities."

Study grades natural gas as best source for reliability, affordability and environmental impact.  Anew study finds that natural gas is the most effective energy source meeting growing energy demands affordably and reliably, while balancing environmental and human impact.  The "Grading the Grid" study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a pro-free market nonprofit, and Northwood University rates natural gas, coal, petroleum, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar and geothermal generation sources on their reliability, environmental and human impact, cost, innovation and market feasibility.  Natural gas got an "A" grade, followed by nuclear, which got a "B+".  Wind and solar energy came in last, each receiving "F" grades, according to the study.

Don't Worry about Farming's Contribution to Global Warming.  For decades the primary way environmentalists concerned about manmade global warming have advocated to slow it has been to reduce human emissions of the "greenhouse gas" carbon dioxide (mainly from burning coal, oil, and natural gas for energy).  Lately they have focused increasingly on contributions from two other "greenhouse gases," primarily from agriculture — methane (CH4) from livestock flatulence, and nitrous oxide (N2O) from chemical fertilizers.  Why?  Because CH4's forcing effect (the amount of infrared radiation, or heat, each molecule in the atmosphere impedes from escaping from Earth's surface to space, thus warming the surface) is 30 times, and N2O's 230 times, that of CO2, as illustrated here:  [Chart]  Why?  Because almost all the outgoing longwave radiation (infrared) in the frequency bands CO2 can absorb has already been absorbed — by both CO2 and water vapor (H2O) — while far less in the bands CH4 and N2O can absorb has already been absorbed.  So we say CO2's bands are nearly "saturated," while CH4's and N2O's are nearly "transparent."  So, it looks like we should be much more concerned about N2O than about CO2 or even CH4.  Or should we?

NY attorney general sues world's largest beef producer over methane emissions, climate commitments.  New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing JBS USA, the world's largest producer of beef, over the company's emissions and for "greenwashing" by allegedly misleading the public about its environmental impact.  In an announcement, James noted that beef production has the largest greenhouse gas footprint of any major food commodity and that animal agriculture accounts for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.  According to James, JBS USA's various net-zero pledges for 2030 and 2040 are therefore misleading and "not feasible" given the scope of its worldwide beef production operations. [...] The global food system — which includes land-use change, actual agricultural production, packaging and waste management — generates about 18 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, the equivalent of 34% of total worldwide emissions, according to a 2021 study published in the Nature Food journal.

The Editor says...
So what?  Who cares if food production results in carbon dioxide emissions, if it also results in food?

Biden's new rule against methane becomes 'final'.  It's not really an exaggeration (if at all) to say that every single day we hear from Hillary Clinton, Liz Cheney, Joe Scarborough, the media, and others about how dangerous President Trump is — ad nauseam they declare how "like Hitler" he is.  And, it seems every single day, Joe Biden issues some new executive order or regulation assaulting our freedoms and our prosperity.  He knows he can't get his radical agenda through Congress so he just goes around them.  He violates his oath of office by not only refusing to enforce immigration laws that Congress passed, but sabotaging our sovereignty too.  It is a pure abuse of power, and yet most of the media just cheers. [...] Now, Joe Biden is dictatorially issuing another rule to handicap the coal, oil, and gas industries.  He clearly doesn't care about costs or the loss of tens of millions of jobs directly or indirectly related to those industries.  The costs of these green policies are already destroying Americans purchasing power but a power hungry politician like Joe clearly doesn't care.

President Biden just pledged to shut down 60% of America's electric power.  The Biden administration made two virtue-signaling proclamations at last week's COP28 conference in Dubai that it says will help save the planet from climate change.  The policies aren't likely to change the planet's temperature by even one-tenth of a degree, but they might just destroy the 21st-century American industrial economy as we know it.  First, Team Biden announced it will stop production of all new coal plants in the United States.  This comes on the heels of President Biden's Environmental Protection Agency saying this year it would impose new power plant emission regulations that are virtually impossible for coal plants to comply with.  The bottom line:  No more coal.  Period.  But the White House was just getting started.  Vice President Kamala Harris trumpeted the next day new rules to "sharply reduce methane from the oil and natural gas industry."  The administration calls methane a "super-pollutant" that it wants to eliminate because it's "many times more potent than carbon dioxide."  But methane is effectively a hydrocarbon that comes from natural gas.

The Editor says...
Methane is a naturally-occurring gas.  It is not a pollutant; it is beneficial; it is not something to avoid.  Climate change is not a crisis.  The climate will always change.  The climate does not respond to legislation.  You might as well burn all the hydrocarbons you need, because the earth isn't being ruined by your use of them.  The billions of people who live in China and India couldn't care less about methane or carbon dioxide, and if they don't care, you might as well use as much natural gas as you like, because it won't make any difference.

The fables about greenhouse gases, especially about methane.  Several atmospheric gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, absorb light in the infrared region.  These are collectively known as the "greenhouse gases" because absorbing infrared energy warms up the air — hence the name greenhouse effect.  Carbon dioxide, on a per-molecule basis, is six times as effective an absorber as water is.  However, that's offset by the fact that carbon dioxide is only about 0.04% of the atmosphere (400 parts per million).  This means that, overall, it's much less important than water vapor in terms of its ability to warm the atmosphere.  And then there's methane.  Pound-for-pound methane can trap 25 times more heat than carbon dioxide.  However, there are two reasons why scientists say it will never significantly contribute to global warming.  Primarily, it is by far the rarest of the green house gases.  But there is another reason why we will probably never have to worry about methane being a major contributor to global warming:  Methane's narrow absorption bands, at 3.3 microns and 7.5 microns, perfectly match... water's!

Green Hydrogen Needs Vast Subsidies.  World leaders tout "green hydrogen" as an essential fuel in the renewable energy transition.  Today, heavy industries use huge amounts of coal and natural gas to produce products needed by society.  Governments propose to replace hydrocarbon fuels with hydrogen fuel, using hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies.  But vast subsidies won't be enough to overcome the insurmountable problems with green hydrogen fuel.  Four big industries — ammonia, cement, plastics, and steel — are powered by natural gas and coal, also called hydrocarbon fuels, while emitting large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2).  The world's ammonia industry produced almost 200 million tons of ammonia in 2020, primarily for agricultural fertilizer, using natural gas and coal as fuel and feedstock.  About 4.3 billion tons of cement, the essential material for concrete, were output that same year, while exhausting CO2 and burning hydrocarbons in furnaces.  Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year using gas for feedstock and fuel.  Annually, 1.9 billion tons of steel are produced using coal and gas.

Biden administration tries paying off states to plug wells and stop energy production.  The Biden administration is offering federal assistance to certain states for the closure of low-producing oil and gas wells.  Funding comes from the Inflation Reduction Act's $350 million program called the Mitigating Emissions from Marginal Conventional Wells.  The grant opened up in August, as announced by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.  The program was designed to "help monitor and reduce methane emissions, one of the biggest drivers of climate change, from the oil and gas sector and for environmental restoration of well sites."  Last week, Wyoming opted not to pursue federal funding from the program, with Gov. Mark Gordon (R-WY) stating he believes the offer undermines the state's oil and gas industry and its importance to the economy.

The Editor says...
[#1] Forty percent of "methane emissions" come from natural sources.  [#2] The sun is "one of the biggest drivers of climate change," and methane has a very minor influence, by comparison.  [#3] The climate has been changing for a long time.  Climate change did not begin when natural gas drilling started, and even if it had, the tiny magnitude of global temperature changes in the last century would have been a small price to pay for all the energy that has been produced through the combustion of natural gas.

US Utilities Lobby Congress to Keep Gas Stoves Legal.  American gas utilities are lobbying support for bills to keep gas stoves operational, as the Biden administration recommends their elimination for climate change purposes.  Natural gas companies are gathering their political allies in Congress to ward off any attempts that gas stove use be curtailed, according to federal records.  Gas utility companies fear that gas stove bans are the start of a broader phaseout of natural gas, as climate change activists aim to electrify more of the energy system.  Leftist climate change activists are now going after natural gas consumption after destroying the U.S. coal industry under the Biden administration.

The Nanny State Stains a Deck.  When candidates run for public office — local, state, or federal — they campaign on some careful blend of their résumés, their personalities, and their political issues. [...]The related issue currently in the news is the world of natural gas appliances.  The United States has so much natural gas, it's practically free energy... but gas-powered ovens, ranges, furnaces, water heaters, and clothes dryers are under assault from blue states like New York and California and from the federal Department of Energy.  Some states have mandated that no new construction can include them; some cities have mandated that perfectly functional existing appliances be ripped out and replaced with electric.

Netherlands moves to limit farmers to TWO cows per acre to curb emissions: report.  The Dutch government continues its war on the country's farmers and has proposed new regulations that would roughly limit two cows per acre in order to reach the European Union's climate change targets by 2030, The Telegraph reports.  The proposal, which has not yet been approved by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, would limit "0.35 hectares of grassland per livestock unit" in an attempt to tackle nitrogen emissions by reducing methane gas, which will place an even greater strain between the country's farmers and Dutch government.

'Mind-boggling' methane emissions from Turkmenistan revealed.  Methane leaks alone from Turkmenistan's two main fossil fuel fields caused more global heating in 2022 than the entire carbon emissions of the UK, satellite data has revealed.  Emissions of the potent greenhouse gas from the oil- and gas-rich country are "mind-boggling", and an "infuriating" problem that should be easy to fix, experts have told the Guardian.  The data produced by Kayrros for the Guardian found that the western fossil fuel field in Turkmenistan, on the Caspian coast, leaked 2.6 [million] tonnes of methane in 2022.  The eastern field emitted 1.8 [million] tonnes.  Together, the two fields released emissions equivalent to 366m tonnes of CO2, more than the UK's annual emissions, which are the 17th-biggest in the world.

Why Methane Accounting Method Matters.  In a surprise development, Governor Kathy Hochul has recommended changing the way the state accounts for emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas.  The proposal has big implications for New York's climate policy, with one critic describing it as a "grenade."  Although the Governor seems to have retreated from pressing this change during budget negotiations, it remains a live issue.  Currently, New York accounts for the global warming potential (GWP) of greenhouse gases over a 20-year time frame (called GWP20), an approach mandated by the state's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.  Hochul's proposal would shift New York's approach to the much more commonly used model of accounting for methane emissions over a 100-year period (GWP100), used by 49 other states, the U.S. and most other countries.  In this explainer, I will show how the GWP20 and GWP100 approaches differ, and why that difference matters for public policy.

Gulf of Mexico Drilling Operations Produce More Than Double the Amount of Methane Emissions as Reported by EPA.  Offshore oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico are releasing far higher quantities of a potent greenhouse gas than regulators have estimated, according to a new study published Monday.  The analysis reveals that the climate change impact of these activities is more than double what official estimates suggest.  The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that 2021 calculations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — using data from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) — correctly estimated carbon dioxide emissions but underestimated methane emissions.

Bay Area Regulators Want To Ban Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters.  If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you may soon have to give up your natural gas heaters.  On March 15, regulators will decide if they will ban new propane water heaters and furnaces, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.  Residents would have to replace their broken gas units with electric appliances, starting in 2027 for most water heaters and in 2029 for furnaces.  The sweeping proposal from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's board is similar to a recent move by the Biden administration to crack down on gas stoves because of their alleged link to childhood asthma.  The news drew immediate public outrage, which the media described as the latest twist in the "culture wars."

Meet the Green Energy Group Behind the Study That's Driving Calls To Ban Gas Stoves.  The green energy group behind a study cited in Consumer Product Safety commissioner Richard Trumka Jr.'s call to ban gas stoves has partnered with the Chinese government to implement an "economy-wide transformation" away from oil and gas.  Colorado-based nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute, which published the December study that attributes 13 percent of U.S. childhood asthma cases to gas-stove use, is hardly staffed by an objective group of scientists. [...] The Rocky Mountain Institute is far from the first green energy group to advocate for the banning of gas stoves, which nearly 40 percent of U.S. homes use.  But the nonprofit's newfound influence reflects the Biden administration's alignment with the left's loudest climate activists.  President Joe Biden has already proposed a natural gas phaseout in federal buildings, which would ban fossil-fuel equipment in new buildings by 2030.

CNN host accidentally EXPOSES real motives for gas stove ban live on-air.  Every once in a while, left-wing propagandists will accidentally blurt out the truth.  That's exactly what happened on CNN the other day when one of the network's hosts was discussing the Biden administration's proposed war on gas stoves.  While the official party line from the federal government claimed that gas stoves needed to be phased out to prevent childhood asthma, CNN let slip that there is a bigger motive behind the move.  [Video clip]

The Gas Stove Scare Is A Fraud Created By Climate Change Authoritarians.  In the past I have often tried to take a big picture approach to the issues facing the American public and how there is almost always a deeper connection between a variety of political and economic events.  And, what has become increasingly clear to me is that in order to understand government actions and geopolitics, you must always ask yourself "Who benefits?" [...] Right now I'd like to take a look at a relatively small issue and how the little dominoes lead up to a bigger con game and a bigger disaster.  Let's talk about gas stoves.  Frankly, I don't care about what my stove uses to cook with as long as it works.  That said, around 38% of US households use natural gas for cooking and heating.  That's a significant percentage of people that rely on gas based energy for their daily needs.  Here's the problem, though — Natural gas is not politically correct these days.  Nearly all carbon emitting energy sources have been marked by climate activists and western governments as a threat that needs to be erased between 2030 [and] 2050.

GOP bill blocks Biden admin from banning gas stoves: 'Regulation run amok'.  House Republicans introduced legislation on Thursday that would prohibit the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from banning gas stoves, after the agency indicated an interest in aggressively regulating or even banning the common kitchen cooking appliance used in millions of homes.  Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and 43 House Republicans introduced the GAS Act, which is aimed at making sure the possibility of a ban is taken off the kitchen table.  "The Biden Administration's clear consideration to ban an appliance used by more than 40 million homes and 76 percent of restaurants is worse than Green New Deal-style regulation run amok," Issa said.  "It is a preposterous overreach of federal power that would deny Americans a necessary product they use every day."

Gas-stove ban is off, claims Biden, but many are skeptical.  Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, and millions of natural gas-cooking Americans can breathe a little easier: Both President Biden and the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission say they have no plans to ban natural gas stoves.  White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said yesterday that Biden "does not support banning gas stoves."  Jean-Pierre pointed to a clarifying statement by the head of the CPSC to buttress her point.  "I want to set the record straight.  Contrary to recent media reports, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the [CPSC] has no proceeding to do so," Alex Hoehn-Saric, chair of CPSC, tweeted yesterday. [...] Conservatives had a field day exploiting the apparent floating of a potential ban on popular natural gas stoves, showing photos of First Lady Jill Biden, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other top Democrats cooking with gas.  Others noted that the main study launching the discussion was authored by writers tied to two climate-change advocacy groups.

The Green War on Natural Gas Heats Up.  Historically, those on the left never saw an energy source they liked.  Americans who have been around for a few decades remember the protests at nuclear power plants.  Then there is the war on coal which has been largely successful and continues unabated.  But something can and should be said for having a diversity of power available.  If one supply goes down, there has always been another.  But it appears the ability to pick and choose is now under fire.  On Jan. 14, Liberty Nation's Sarah Cowgill reported on Governor Kathy Hochul's natural gas ban in New York, which will take place over the next ten years.  This will mean approximately 60% of New Yorkers will have to transition their homes to electric everything from water heaters to stoves and ovens — the whole enchilada.  Dictating energy sources is a dicey business because it takes away a consumer's freedom of choice.  This has become so troubling that 20 states have already passed laws that make it illegal to block natural gas hookups.

Biden administration gas stove ban idea leaves NYC restaurants feeling burned.  During a Friday night dinner rush, executive chef Peter Petti will have stainless steel pots of pasta water boiling while searing salmon and steaks, all 12 burners ignited on the gas stoves at Sojourn, a New American restaurant on the Upper East Side.  Nearly everything on his menu — from a 30-day, dry-aged NY strip to a chocolate flambeed dessert — is cooked on the range.  "Some dishes require two or three pans on the burners," said Petti, 45, who's been cooking with gas since the beginning of his culinary career in the early 2000s, when he started as a line cook at Eleven Madison Park.  The Feds, however, can't stand the heat.  On Monday, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said it was considering a nationwide ban on gas stoves, which are currently used in 37% of US households and 76% of US restaurants, according to Consumer Reports and the National Restaurant Association.  The safety commission cited recent reports that gas stoves emit unsafe levels of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide and have been linked to cancers, respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular problems.  But the city's chefs and restaurateurs are fuming at the possibility of a ban and the devastating effect it could have on the health of their businesses.

Keywords:  Lobbyists, echo chamber, talking points.
The Creepy Cult Surrounding the Gas Stove Panic Gets Exposed.  If you've been on social media the last day or so, you've probably noticed there's a moral panic occurring over gas stoves.  According to Democrats far and wide, they are dangerous, cause asthma, and must be banned by the federal government.  As RedState reported, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pushed that line on Tuesday, resulting in much mockery given she herself has a gas stove.  But what's astonishing is that amidst her absolute certainty on the topic, she had never even mentioned the issue prior.  [Tweet]  In other words, in the span of just 24 hours, Ocasio-Cortez saw some questionable study, promoted it on the internet, gained legions of supporters for her position, and then tried to pretend that everyone else had been ignoring her desperate calls.  As Charles W. Cook notes, it's cultish behavior.  Is there anything the New York congresswoman could say that her army of simps wouldn't agree with?  And none of them even gave a second thought as to whether what she was saying was true or made any sense.  It wasn't just Ocasio-Cortez, though.  Other Democrats lined up to preach the dangers of gas stoves, having all suddenly become experts on the matter.  [Tweet]

The real reason they want to ban gas stoves: climate change.  The push to electrify everything is going full speed ahead, at the same time that our grid is getting less reliable and losing base load capacity.  Brownouts/planned blackouts have plagued multiple grids in the country in recent months, and the electrification of the transportation industry threatens to overload the system even more.  Yet the Biden Administration, the Climate Change fanatics, and some "public health" folks are pushing for the banning of gas stoves on some shaky evidence that they cause asthma.  OK.  Whatever.  We've been using gas stoves for generations, and just about every restaurant uses them with cooks standing over them for hours at a time, but whatever.  If safety is your concern, what do the stats say? [...] This is [...] driven not by health concerns but rather is part of a war on fossil fuels.  Steve Milloy of Junk Science debunks the study cited itself, which isn't even a study.  It is a poorly designed meta-analysis that doesn't focus on children, doesn't say what they claim, and doesn't stand up to scrutiny.  They wanted a result, and created some "scientific" research to get it.

Consumer Safety Commission Walks Back Gas-Stove Threat amid Backlash.  U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission chairman Alexander D. Hoehn-Saric issued a statement Wednesday assuring the public that his agency has no intention of banning gas stoves after a commission official drew the ire of the cooking public by suggesting the appliances might be banned in the near future due to the alleged health threat they pose to Americans.  "Over the past several days, there has been a lot of attention paid to gas stove emissions and to the Consumer Product Safety Commission," Hoehn-Saric wrote in an official statement released Wednesday.  "To be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so."  Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. had originally told Bloomberg News that fears over air quality caused by gas stoves was creating "a hidden hazard."  "Any option is on the table.  Products that can't be made safe can be banned," Trumka Jr. insisted.  The comments came following Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) and Representative Don Beyer (D., Va.) urging the federal agency to investigate the issue due to its allegedly disproportionate impact on black, Latino, and low-income households.

The Editor says...
Wait, is this a solution to global warming, air pollution, asthma, or access/equity/fairness/racism?

After receiving complaints from probably NOBODY:
Biden Administration Considers Banning Gas Stoves over Health Concerns.  A federal agency may look to ban gas stoves over concern about the release of pollutants that can cause health and respiratory problems, according to a new report.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is set to open public comment on the dangers of gas stoves sometime this winter.  The commission could set standards on emissions from the gas stoves, or even look to ban the manufacture or import of the appliances, commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. told Bloomberg News.  "This is a hidden hazard," Trumka told the outlet. "Any option is on the table.  Products that can't be made safe can be banned."

The Editor says...
The government is really good at solving problems nobody has.  If gas appliances are unsafe, when did that start?  We had gas appliances when I was a little kid (in the 1960s), and they never hurt anybody.  Back then, my perception was that only the wealthy could afford all-electric homes, and that did not include us!

The Truth About Natural Gas: A Wellspring for the U.S. and Global Energy Future.  Americans are waking up to the fact that anti-energy policies are spiking prices and limiting access to energy.  At the same time, the world is discovering that energy independence plays a critical role in ensuring nations can control their own destinies.  Energy disruptions and runaway prices are hindering investment and development at the state level.  Michigan, Texas, California, and many other states have aging and increasingly fragile energy infrastructures that have come dangerously close to failure, or have experienced significant outages in the recent past.  The nation is experiencing systemic pressures that are stressing the abilities of states to create and deliver reliable and affordable energy to residents and businesses.  Energy security strengthens a nation's status and stature as a reliable energy producer and exporter and promotes both national security and quality of life.  The opportunity to return to energy independence is currently facing the Unites States: natural gas is a wellspring of wealth and security for America and a foundation for the world's energy future.

Methane: Much Ado About Nothing.  Thanks to Modtran, an online program maintained by the University of Chicago, we know that carbon dioxide's heating effect is logarithmic.  The first 20 ppm of carbon dioxide heats the atmosphere by 1.5°C.  At the current concentration of 412 ppm each extra 100 ppm is only good for 0.1°C. Carbon dioxide is tuckered out as a greenhouse gas.  But what of methane which is the excuse du jour for wrecking livelihoods, towns, industries and whole economies?  Methane, with a half life of nine years in the atmopshere, is carbon dioxide's little brother in the pantheon of the satanic gasses. [...] While not as pronounced as carbon dioxide's drop off in heating effect with concentration, the effect is still there such that at the current concentration of 1.9 ppm, each extra 0.1 ppm heats the atmosphere by 0.05°C.  With the methane concentration currently rising by 0.1 ppm every 20 years, the atmosphere will get an extra 0.2°C of heating by 2100.  The reader can decide whether or not he/she/it need be worried by this projection.  But methane has only been going up at that rate for a few years.  The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has measured since 1958.  Methane measurements only started in the mid-1980s and this is what the data looks like:  [Chart]

A Little Learning on Methane and Climate Change.  In fact, there is no climate emergency and there will not be one, with or without new regulations on methane emissions.  Methane, the molecule CH4, is the main constituent of natural gas.  Animals like cattle and sheep belch methane as they chew their cud.  They are able to get more energy from forage by digesting some of the cellulose with the aid of methane-generating microorganisms in their stomachs.  Termites use the same trick to digest wood.  Microorganisms in soils, notably rice paddies, also emit large amounts of methane.  To understand why methane regulation will be irrelevant to climate, it is necessary to discuss a few numbers.  This is not customary in climate discussions, which are usually more based in emotion than in fact.

Control Freaks and the Guilt Trip Travel Agency.  On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court of the United States of American ruled that carbon dioxide is a pollutant.  So much for the wisdom and efficacy of courts.  Carbon dioxide is critical to the life chemistry of plants.  Animal life depends on plant life.  Within reasonable limits, and as much as we understand from known history, there have been times when the atmosphere had more carbon dioxide and times when it had less.  Until very recently, these variations were not created by the activities of man.  When there was more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, plant life flourished.  In those times, the potential for human life to flourish was greater.  [¶] The advance of technology in the Bronze Age and Iron Age allowed fewer men to feed more people and led to the green revolution of the 1950s and '60s, which allowed farmers to be much more productive.  Critical to this was the Haber-Bosch process, which allowed nitrogen fixation and created ammonia and artificial fertilizer.  Without this artificial fertilizer, farm productivity could not support the current population of the Earth.  Farm machinery depends on fossil fuels, and the Haber-Bosch process depends on methane, which is the main component in natural gas.  [¶] If you reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, plant life will decline.  If you reduce the production of energy from fossil fuels, farm production will decline.  If you reduce the production of natural gas, nitrogen fixation using the Haber-Bosch process will decline.  Each of these declines will reduce the productivity of farming.  [¶] If you reduce the productivity of farming, life will become nasty, brutish, and short again.

Methane — the Irrelevant Green-House Gas.  A Zoom lecture was hosted by the Irish Climate Science Foundation (icsf.ie) and Clintel on Wednesday, Sept 21, 2022.  In the lecture Dr. Sheahen focusses on the work of Professors Will Happer and William van Wijngaarden in their pioneering work in calculating the real-world Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) of the five most common Green-House Gases (GHGs).

Did the US (or its agents) blow up the Nordstream pipelines?  Thanks to an open threat issued by President Biden, the question must be asked: Is the United States behind the two explosions that caused a massive natural gas leak into the Baltic Sea?  The incident has cut off Russia's ability to deliver methane gas to Germany and other European nations.  The release of methane into the water and atmosphere is killing marine life and delivering a greenhouse gas pollutant into the atmosphere that would be gravely feared by believers in man-made global warming.  The word "eco-terrorism" comes to mind the describe the act of sabotage, if that's what the explosions were. [...] What raises intense suspicion on the United States is the very specific threat that President Biden issued against Nordstream last February 7: [...]

Leaking natural-gas from the damaged Nord Stream pipelines is erupting like geysers in the Baltic Sea, Danish military video shows.  Natural-gas is erupting like geysers on the surface of the Baltic Sea above the damaged Nord Stream pipelines, images from the Danish military show.  Danish Defence on Tuesday released a video taken from a helicopter showing the extent of the disturbances caused by the leaking pipelines, which European officials believe have been sabotaged.  The largest disturbance on the surface is spread across more than 1,000 metres, while the smallest is about 200 metres, Danish Defence said.

Did Putin's frogmen blow up Europe's gas supplies?  Western leaders blame 'deliberate' sabotage after Nordsteam pipe from Russia ruptured.  Western leaders have blamed 'deliberate' sabotage after the Nordsteam pipe from Russia suffered 'unprecedented' damage off Sweden — causing 3000ft-wide bubbles in the Baltic Sea and causing prices to spike.  Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said her government believes the leaks were caused by 'deliberate actions', adding that the gas supply pipeline will be out of action for around a week.  She said this evening:  'It is now the clear assessment by authorities that these are deliberate actions.  It was not an accident.  There is no information yet to indicate who may be behind this action.'

Please use all-electric appliances — but only between midnight and sunrise, when your solar panels are asleep.
California moves to ban natural gas furnaces and heaters by 2030.  California is committing to a plan that will make it the first U.S. state to phase out gas-fueled furnaces and water heaters in homes, a move environmentalists are betting will provide a template for other states.  The Golden State will ban the sale of all new natural gas-fired space heaters and water-heating appliances by 2030, under a proposal unanimously approved by the California Air Resources Board on Thursday.  "We need to take every action we can to deliver on our commitments to protect public health from the adverse impacts of air pollution, and this strategy identifies how we can do just that," board Chair Liane Randolph said.  "While this strategy will clean the air for all Californians, it will also lead to reduced emissions in the many low-income and disadvantaged communities that experience greater levels of persistent air pollution.

Leafcutter ants produce so much gas that they actually rival cows.  The fact that cows produce a ton of greenhouse gas in the form of methane is science factoid that people tend to pull out in casual climate discussions (you have those, don't you?).  As it turns out, one of the other major natural contributors of greenhouse gas is a creature that is a whole lot smaller but a lot more numerous.  In a new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers from the University of Montana reveal that leafcutter ants are also major gas producers, pumping out incredible quantities of a different gas, nitrous oxide.

All organisms produce methane.  It is well known that methane, a greenhouse gas, is produced by special microorganisms, for example in the intestines of cows, or in rice fields.  For some years, scientists had also observed the production of methane in plants and fungi, without finding an explanation.  Now researchers have shed light on the underlying mechanism.  Their findings suggest that all organisms release methane.

'World-first' hydrogen project raises questions about its role in fuelling future homes.  On the northern shores of the Firth of Forth, royal blue waters lap against the weathered walls of Methil Docks.  The quays were once a hub for coal exports but, since the late 1970s, haven't dealt in the black stuff.  Now, the town on Scotland's east coast is flirting with another era in the energy industry — but it doesn't appear to be going to plan.  In what has been dubbed a "world-first project", called H100, about 300 homes in Methil and neighbouring Buckhaven in Levenmouth were planned to be powered by "green hydrogen" gas [beginning] next year.  Customers are offered free hydrogen-ready boilers and cookers under the scheme, scheduled to last at least four years. [...] Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water using electricity from renewables, with minimal emissions.  Under the plans, an existing 7 megawatt, 200-metre-high offshore wind turbine would be used to power an electrolyser on the nearby Fife Energy Park before the hydrogen is stored and transported to homes through a newly laid network of pipes.

The Editor says...
[#1] I suspect the trucks and tractors used to install the new pipes will be powered by diesel engines.  [#2] The consumers participating in this project have a great advantage over most people:  The (hydrogen) gas appliances are being provided to them at no cost.  That doesn't give a good indication of the feasibility of residential hydrogen use in the free market.  [#3] Windmills don't spin all the time.  What happens when the hydrogen supply fails to meet the demand?  I suspect we'll never hear about it.  [#4] How does the energy available from a cubic foot of hydrogen compare to the energy available from a cubic foot of natural gas?  A quick internet search reveals natural gas (methane) has a 3-to-1 advantage over hydrogen, among other advantages.

This is extremely dubious:
Gas stoves linked to asthma in children, adult cancers, scientist warns.  The more than 40 million households in the US who use a gas stove might want to consider an alternative.  New findings have shown that gas stoves — even when turned off — may cause asthma in children and put adults at risk of cancer.  Dr. Jonathan Levy, an environmental health professor at Boston University, claimed the stoves may pollute the air with nitrogen dioxide, which can cause lung damage.  The pollutant, a "byproduct of fuel combustion," is also the same that is produced on major highways, but since the kitchen is an enclosed space, it puts inhabitants at more risk.  The size of the home and the quality of ventilation also play a part, Levy said.

The Editor says...
Gas stoves are reasonably safe, when the risks are weighed against the benefits.  If there is too much nitrogen dioxide or radon or any other gas in your house, it's probably because the place is sealed up too tightly to allow any fresh air to come in.  If your kid has asthma or peanut allergies or cancer or autism, you should probably wonder about the barrage of vaccines he or she has had at an early age.

Don't They Know That Crickets Pass Gas Too?  Among the critters that metabolically produce CO2 are bacteria.  As far as I can find out, every creature on Earth that has a mouth has a gut. [...] You, me, the cows, the crickets, all God's creatures need to fart.  Especially we humans, as we have more bacteria living inside each of us than there are dollars in our $30+ trillion national debt.  Yeast, while a sort of fungus and not a bacterium, also exudes CO2 as it goes through its lifecycle.  Baking bread, fermenting grains into beer, bourbon, and other alcohols, and converting grape sugar into wine all release yeast-created CO2.  You can tell a greenie is truly dedicated to reducing carbon emissions when he stops eating avocado with toast, comparing sips of microbrews, and relaxing with a boutique single malt or pinot noir after a long day.  By the way, bacteria that live in the seabed alone make up 10% to 30% of the Earth's whole biomass.  They are snuggled into the mud happily breaking down organic matter into its basic components and releasing carbon dioxide.

Methane Emissions Create Yet Another Green Grifting Opportunity.  As we point out in a companion story today, some in the oil and gas industry have sold out and are supporting the Manchin-Schumer methane tax.  It's sad (and angering). As we point out in that post, those companies believe they are insulated from the effects of the methane tax because they have already deployed technology to reduce methane emissions from their operations.  But what happens when the federal government changes the rules by telling them their technology is junk and they have to replace it with new government-blessed technology?  Right on cue, the Dept. of Energy announced it will spend $32 million on "research" to figure out what kind of technology can lower methane emissions. [...] The importance is this:  The feds will research what technology they think lowers methane emissions — and once they figure it out, that tech will become required by the EPA, not optional.

EPA Agents Are Flying Helicopters Over Texas Oil Fields To Crack Down On Methane Emissions From Drilling.  The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Region 6 department is conducting helicopter flyovers over the Permian Basin to identify "super-emitters" of methane gas among oil and gas operations, according to an Aug. 1 news release.  The flyovers will use infrared cameras to inspect hundreds of oil and gas activities in the Permian Basin region of West Texas and southeast New Mexico until Aug. 15, according to the press release.  The agency hopes to use aerial surveillance to identify large emitters of methane and excessive volatile organic compound (VOC), emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids which may cause adverse health effects, as well as address any noncompliance indicated by the flyovers through EPA administrative enforcement actions and referrals to the Department of Justice (DOJ).  "It's just a way to intimidate the oil and gas industry," Steve Milloy, member of former President Donald Trump's EPA transition team, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.  "The EPA's conduct is outrageous."

Biden EPA Announces 'Flyovers' of Key US Oil- and Gas-Producing Region.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it will conduct "flyovers" of the Permian Basin region in Texas and New Mexico to "survey oil and gas operations to identify large emitters of methane" amid the Biden administration's climate policy initiative.  "The flyovers are vital to identifying which facilities are responsible for the bulk of these emissions and therefore where reductions are most urgently needed," said Earthea Nance, an EPA official, in an Aug. 1 news release.  The flyovers, which will use infrared cameras, will be conducted until Aug. 15, the agency said.  With the announcement, it means the administration will continue to target the oil and gas industry, coming after President Joe Biden sent letters to the heads of major oil companies in June and threatened to take action to increase supply.  The move drew pushback from the CEOs of ExxonMobil and Chevron, who both accused Biden of taking an increasingly hostile approach to the industry.  The Permian Basin accounts for 43 percent of the nation's oil supply, meaning any federal regulation or rules may impact gas prices nationwide.

The Editor says...
[#1] How will the aerial samples distinguish between natural and industrial sources of methane?  With so much oil in the ground in the Permian Basin, wouldn't there have been a lot of methane seeping out of the ground 200 years ago?  [#2] What is the estimated mass of the escaping methane, and how does it compare to the mass of the atmosphere?  [#3] The value of the energy produced by products from the Permian Basin outweighs the incidental leaks of methane and other gases.  Oil production is a messy business.  Get over it.

California governor calls for no new gas plants in climate fight.  California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced steps Friday [7/22/2022] to speed up the clean-energy transition and fight climate change, including an end to building gas-burning power plants, even as the move away from fossil fuels has threatened his state with blackouts and forced him to reconsider nuclear power.  Newsom said he would work with Sacramento legislators to pass a law requiring California to reach carbon neutrality, a goal set by his predecessor Jerry Brown in an executive order.  In a letter to the state's top climate change regulator, the Democratic governor also called for building offshore wind farms, deploying 6 million home heat pumps, requiring the aviation industry to increase its use of clean fuels, and setting firm targets for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using land management and machines designed for the task.  Perhaps most important, Newsom told the head of the California Air Resources Board that he doesn't want new natural-gas plants built in the state.

The Editor says...
The avoidance of carbon dioxide emissions and the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are both futile.  Any and all money spent on these activities is wasted.  China and India aren't wasting their time with projects like this, and they share the same atmosphere.

Methane levels surged in 2020 despite lockdowns.  Methane has a mixture of both natural and anthropogenic sources.  Around 40% of methane emissions comes from natural sources, while 60% comes from anthropogenic sources such as agriculture, fossil fuel exploitation and landfills.  One of the largest sources of methane emissions comes from wetlands — an area of land that is either covered by water or saturated with water — yet there is still uncertainty in how they respond to changes in climate and short-term variations, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation.  The combination of methane's high global warming potential and relatively short lifetime in our atmosphere of approximately nine years, means if we reduce our methane emissions, we can partially mitigate the human impact of climate change on a relatively short timescale — while global emissions of carbon dioxide are reduced.

Los Angeles joins movement to ban new natural gas hookups to fight climate change.  As the nation looks for ways to cut fossil fuel emissions to meet ambitious carbon reduction goals, natural gas, that common household fuel staple loved by cooks, is feeling the heat.  So far, 77 cities and towns and Washington state have banned or discouraged new natural gas hookups.  Los Angeles became the latest to join the list when its City Council voted last week to rewrite building codes requiring new homes and buildings achieve zero-carbon emissions — effectively eliminating future natural gas lines.  Climate change experts say the shift is a necessary part of the nation's energy transformation.  About half of American homes use natural gas, and appliances burning natural gas make up 13% of U.S. greenhouse emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.  At least 95% of those emissions come from water heaters, stoves, furnaces and clothes dryers powered by natural gas.

The Editor says...
[#1] What could be more natural than natural gas?  If natural gas affects nature, why interrupt the process?  [#2] The opinions of "climate change experts" are the only ones that matter, apparently.  But how many years have the "experts" been squawking about the imminent arrival of an irreversible tipping point, beyond which the world is doomed, unless we stop using hydrocarbons for energy — without paying heavy taxes for it, that is.  [#3] Obviously, "water heaters, stoves, furnaces and clothes dryers powered by natural gas" are your only choice, if everyone goes out and buys an electric car, as the Democrats recommend, because the power grid will be operating at its newly-reduced capacity:  The tree-hugging baby-killing Democrats are doing away with nuclear power and coal-fired power plants (in addition to natural gas), leaving less electric supply at a time when the same busybodies are encouraging increased consumption.

Fjords Emit as much Methane as All the Deep Oceans Globally.  During heavy storms, the normally stratified layers of water in ocean fjords get mixed, which leads to oxygenation of the fjord floor.  But these storm events also result in a spike in methane emissions from fjords to the atmosphere.  Researchers from the University of Gothenburg have estimated that the total emissions of this climate-warming gas are as great from fjords as from all the deep ocean areas in the world put together.  The world's fjords were created when the inland ice receded, and are a relatively rare natural feature, constituting only 0.13 percent of all the oceans on Earth.  However, according to researchers from the University of Gothenburg, emissions of methane from the surface of fjords are comparable to the emissions of this gas from global deep oceans which account for 84 percent of the global sea surface area.  These results were presented in an article in the prestigious science journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters.

Scientists calculated the global population of ants: there are 20 quadrillion, or 2.5 million per person.  An estimated 20 quadrillion ants roam the earth, scientists have estimated.  The astonishing number — 20,000,000,000,000,000 — means there would be about 2.5 million ants per single human living today.  "It's unimaginable," Patrick Schultheiss, a lead author on the study, told The Washington Post.  "We simply cannot imagine 20 quadrillion ants in one pile, for example.  It just doesn't work."

Methane and Climate.  Atmospheric methane (CH₄) contributes to the radiative forcing of Earth's atmosphere.  Radiative forcing is the difference in the net upward thermal radiation from the Earth through a transparent atmosphere and radiation through an otherwise identical atmosphere with greenhouse gases.  Radiative forcing, normally specified in Watts per square meter, depends on latitude, longitude and altitude, but it is often quoted for a representative temperate latitude, and for the altitude of the tropopause, or for the top of the atmosphere.  For current concentrations of greenhouse gases, the radiative forcing at the tropopause, per added CH₄ molecule, is about 30 times larger than the forcing per added carbon-dioxide (CO₂) molecule.  This is due to the heavy saturation of the absorption band of the abundant greenhouse gas, CO₂.  But the rate of increase of CO₂ molecules, about 2.3 ppm/year (ppm = part per million), is about 300 times larger than the rate of increase of CH₄ molecules, which has been around 0.0076 ppm/year since the year 2008.  So the contribution of methane to the annual increase in forcing is one tenth (30/300) that of carbon dioxide.  The net forcing from CH₄ and CO₂ increases is about 0.05 W per square meter per year.  Other things being equal, this will cause a temperature increase of about 0.012 C  per year.  Proposals to place harsh restrictions on methane emissions because of warming fears are not justified by facts.

Natural gas [is a] 'large part' of solution to climate goals, industry leader says.  A leading supplier of natural gas in Wyoming told Fox News there are misconceptions about the fossil fuel that powers everything from cell phones to electric cars.  "The single largest misconception about natural gas is that we can't do it clean," Jonah Energy Vice President Paul Ulrich told Fox News.  "We can," he continued.  "We've proven it here in the Jonah Field.  Other operators have proven it, and we absolutely are a large part of the solution to climate goals."  Ulrich said about 40% of electric generation in the U.S. is powered by natural gas.

Biden's New "Regressive" Methane Tax Will Raise Average American's Gas Bill By 17%.  At a time when the Biden administration is panicking in an attempt to keep energy prices down, the House has slapped a "fee" on methane that is being called a "stealth tax" on natural gas and everyone who uses it.  The House bill results in an "escalating tax on methane emissions by oil and gas producers," a new op-ed in the Wall Street Journal points out.  The tax will hit $1,500 per ton by 2025 and the fee is supposed to be a contribution to recent promises made in Glasgow to curb methane emissions.  The cost of the fee will obviously get passed along to the consumer, which will then result in even higher energy prices than consumers are already struggling with.  180 million Americans use natural gas to hear their homes, the report says.

Biden's Methane Gas Tax will Raise the Average American's Heating Bill by 16%.  Would you rather pay lower prices than higher prices to heat your home this winter?  Well, too bad.  Brandon is worried about the climate, what with all those tornadoes and such, so he's pushing a new tax that'll raise your heating bill by 16% this winter alone.  Background on the new tax and the cost imposed by it comes from the Wall Street Journal, which reported that the House of Representatives just passed a stealth tax on natural gas.

Pocket-sized aerosolized inhalers emit tiny amounts of methane.  They're wrecking the earth!
Latest Climate Culprits: Asthmatics.  By now you should know that you hate the planet if you eat beef, instead of mashed-up bugs or heavily salted soy protein or algae or whatever.  And of course you hate the planet if your car uses gasoline instead of electricity, which is generated by, apparently, magic.  But did you know that now you hate the planet if you have asthma but you insist on breathing anyway?

EPA proposes rule easing regulation of methane emissions, Wall Street Journal reports.  The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a new rule that would ease the regulation of methane emissions at a time when greenhouse gas emissions are at their highest — the latest rollback of an environmental protection introduced under former President Barack Obama.  The Wall Street Journal reports that the EPA's proposed rule, expected this week, would no longer require the oil and gas industry to install technologies that monitor and limit leaks from new wells, tanks and pipelines.  Methane is a major contributor to climate change.

The Editor says...
Wait a minute.  I suppose news5cleveland thought they could assert that "Methane is a major contributor to climate change" without question.  Methane may have a role in the greenhouse effect, but that doesn't mean methane is changing the climate.  Methane has been around much longer than the internal combustion engine or the industrial revolution.  The only reason Barack H. Obama implemented EPA rules about methane was to make production of oil and gas more difficult.

Methane emissions: don't blame cows and camels, blame the oceans.  Methane emissions are a bit of a sleeper.  They are ignored (even by me) yet and cows, sheep, pigs and lamas produce a whopping 11% of the Australian national greenhouse emissions (mostly as methane and nitrous oxide). Livestock emissions are 70% of our entire agricultural sector emissions.  They are so important, at one stage Australia was considering a camel genocide — hoping to stop storms and reduce droughts by knocking off some camels.  So if we like ham, steak and hamburgers, we need to pay attention.

Volcanoes and Glaciers Combine as Powerful Methane Producers.  Large amounts of the potent greenhouse gas methane are being released from an Icelandic glacier, scientists have discovered.  A study of Sólheimajökull glacier, which flows from the active, ice-covered volcano Katla, shows that up to 41 tonnes of methane is being released through meltwaters every day during the summer months.  This is roughly equivalent to the methane produced by more than 136,000 belching cows.  The Lancaster university-led research, which is featured in Scientific Reports, is the first published field study to show methane release from glaciers on this scale.

5 States Could Wreck Their Economies In Futile Fight Against 'Climate Change'.  New Mexico voters will be picking the next powerful public lands commissioner.  As the New York Times notes, "at stake is a job with the authority to regulate the emissions of methane."  The Democrat running for this job, Stephanie Garcia Richard, has promised to cut down on methane emissions.  Since the state owns nine million acres of land, a crackdown on methane leaks from oil and gas operations there has the potential to severely hamper the industry, along with the well-paying jobs that go with it.  But methane emissions in the state have been dropping on their own.  That's thanks to industry-driven advances in the technology.  In 2017 alone, emissions dropped by more than 50%.  Forcing still deeper cuts in methane emissions will likely cost the industry — and the state's economy — plenty, but will do nothing to change the global climate.

Obama's third term: 13 times courts said Trump must continue Obama's lawless policies.  [#12] Hot air?  Trump must continue Obama's methane policies:  Last year, Judge William Orrick ordered Trump to continue Obama's lawless legislation of allowing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to regulate the venting and flaring of methane from oil and gas production.  This has been devastating to our burgeoning natural gas industry.  No statute on the books could conceivably grant such authority to the BLM. Orrick is the same lawless Obama-donor judge who declared a nationwide sanctuary policy attempting to block the DOJ from punishing sanctuary cities.

Trump Guts Obama-Era Methane Rules To 'Allow Job Growth In Rural America'.  President Donald Trump's administration is revising a former President Barack Obama-era rule on methane emissions to help make the U.S. energy dependent while helping people in rural parts of the country retain jobs.  "In order to achieve energy dominance through responsible energy production, we need smart regulations, not punitive regulations," Joe Balash, assistant secretary for land and minerals management, said in a statement following Trump's move to revise the controversial rule.  "We believe this proposed rule strikes that balance and will allow job growth in rural America," said Balash, an official inside the Interior Department.  The Interior Department believes the regulation was redundant and damaged industry inside rural parts of the country.

New York Gov. Cuomo Pushes Costly Methane Reduction Plan.  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced an ambitious plan to reduce methane emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 throughout New York.  Cuomo has said methane is second only to carbon dioxide in contributing to climate change and represents almost 10 percent of the greenhouse-gas emissions in the state.  Cuomo's 25-step "Methane Reduction Plan," announced on May 17, calls for the state to cut methane emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80 percent below 1990's number by 2050.  Among the industries and sources of methane emissions targeted for reduction under the plan are active and inactive landfills and new and existing oil and gas infrastructure, including pipelines, terminals, and power stations.

Appeals court blocks California gas facility from reopening.  A California appeals court judge temporarily blocked a Los Angeles natural gas storage facility Friday [7/28/2017] from reopening — a year and a half after a major blowout spewed methane that drove thousands of families from their homes.

Bid to revoke Obama-era methane rules fails in U.S. Senate.  The U.S. Senate on Wednesday rejected a resolution to revoke an Obama-era rule to limit methane emissions from oil and gas production on federal lands, dealing a blow to President Donald Trump's efforts to free the drilling industry from what he sees as excessive environmental regulation.

Cow emissions can now be regulated in California.  California Gov.  Jerry Brown kept up his assault on climate change Monday [9/19/2016], pushing through a law meant to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from dairy farms and landfills. [...] Brown's approval of Senate Bill 1383 goes after short-lived climate pollutants, which include methane, black carbon, and HFC gases, per the AP.

Crazy California Legislators Approve Cow [Emission] Legislation to Curb Gas Emissions.  Cows could literally be exploding thanks to new legislation.  If this wasn't California you would know it was a spoof.  However, nothing is too strange for California. [...] Costs will be passed on to consumers of course.  No one mentions what the price of a gallon of milk will rise to after this goes into full effect, but you can bet it won't be cheaper.

From Fracking to Flatulence:  The All-Out Assault on Methane.  What is the "biggest unfinished business for the Obama administration?"  According to a report from Bill McKibben, the outspoken climate alarmist who calls for all fossil fuels to be kept in the ground, it is "to establish tight rules on methane emissions" — emissions that he blames on the "rapid spread of fracking."  McKibben calls methane emissions a "disaster."  He claims "methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide" and that it does more damage to the climate than coal.  Methane, CH4, is the primary component of natural gas.

Obama administration announces historic new regulations for methane emissions from oil and gas.  The Obama administration on Thursday [5/12/2016] announced a set of much-anticipated — and first ever — steps to regulate oil and gas industry emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas second only to carbon dioxide in its role in the climate debate.  The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a new rule that will target emissions from new or modified oil and gas wells — and prevent 11 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by the year 2025, the agency said.  And while this would not apply to the vast numbers of existing rigs, well pads and auxiliary equipment that have driven a historic boom in domestic oil and gas production, the agency also signaled that it plans to regulate these as well.

E.P.A. Methane Leak Rules Take Aim at Climate Change.  The Obama administration on Thursday [5/12/2016] unveiled the first federal regulations to control emissions of potent planet-warming methane gas that could leach from new oil and gas wells, the next step in President Obama's effort to combat climate change.  The methane rules, the final version of draft regulations put forth last year by the Environmental Protection Agency, require oil and gas companies to plug and capture leaks of methane from new and modified drilling wells and storage tanks, not older, existing wells.

More Burning Water Fracking Hype:  Aussie CSIRO says Methane Emissions are "Natural".  An Aussie Green politician has attracted publicity, by "setting fire" to water in an Australian river, as part of a propaganda attack against local gas fracking operations.  But CSIRO scientist Damian Barrett has been quick to dismiss the scare, stating that methane seeps are well known in the area, and that the methane in the video is likely from natural sources.

California's Ongoing Suicide Watch.  Two headlines from the past week tell the story.  First, you may have heard about a massive natural gas leak out near Newhall over the past few months.  This was not a leaking production field, but was a huge underground gas storage formation that Southern California Edison draws from in the summer to run natural gas "peaker" plants when electricity demand soars during hot weather.  Now that the leak is filled, the state has ordered than the underground formation not be refilled for the time being.

Workers cap massive gas leak plaguing Los Angeles-area neighborhood.  A blowout at a natural gas well that leaked uncontrollably for 16 weeks and drove thousands of residents from their Los Angeles homes was plugged Thursday [2/11/2016], a utility said.

President Obama's Methane Rule Threatens to Stymie U.S. Energy Growth and Innovation.  In 2015 President Obama and his EPA cronies unveiled a plethora of new regulations that will surely send energy costs skyrocketing and stymie the ongoing renaissance in U.S. energy development.  Regulations such as the Clean Power Plan, Ozone Standard, and the Waters of the U.S. Rule all pose a threat to efficient and affordable energy.  On top of these costly new rules, President Obama will use the EPA in 2016 to once again impose his regulatory agenda on the American consumer and energy industry.  For 2016 the EPA is set to push new regulations to cut methane emissions once again targeting the already overregulated energy industry.  According to the EPA's own estimates, this new rule will cost $180 to $200 million in 2020, with costs possibly reaching $500 million in 2025.

Efforts to plug Porter Ranch-area gas leak worsened blowout risk, regulators say.  Southern California Gas Co.'s effort to plug its leaking natural gas well involves higher stakes than simply stopping the fumes that have sickened many residents of Porter Ranch.  The company also is trying to avoid a blowout, which state regulators said is now a significant concern after a seventh attempt to plug the well created more precarious conditions at the site.

The methane makers.  The man behind one of the most influential reports on climate change, Lord Stern, has highlighted the impact meat production has on greenhouse gas emissions.  Part of it comes through methane made by the animals as they digest food.  So which farm animals expel the most methane?

California Governor's Sister Sits on Board of Company Responsible for Methane Leak.  The sister of Gov. Jerry Brown of California (D.) sits on the board of an energy company that owns a facility responsible for what is being called the "worst environmental disaster since BP" as thousands of residents have been displaced from their homes due to a methane gas leak that is expected to continue until spring.  A gas valve ruptured at California's Aliso Canyon Storage Facility in October in the city of Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley.  Multiple residents of the town were struck with symptoms including headaches, nosebleeds, and nausea as 2,300 households were forced to flee their homes; thousands more may be relocated in the near future.

Methane gas leak plaguing Los Angeles neighborhood still months from fix.  The escape of tons of natural gas from storage under a Los Angeles neighborhood is not likely to be fixed for at least another two months because of the specific dynamics of the leak, according to officials. [...] The natural repository is huge — nearly one cubic mile at a depth of a mile and a half, according to the newspaper — and holds natural gas brought from as far away as Canada.

"Unstoppable" California Gas Leak Now Being Called Worst Catastrophe Since BP Spill.  This is, indeed, the biggest environmental catastrophe since the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010; and for now, there is no way to stop it.  This methane disaster is worse than can be sufficiently described in words, because while it's estimated well over 100,000 pounds of methane spew into the atmosphere every hour, the leak can't be halted, at least until spring.  Even then, that stoppage depends entirely on the efficacy of a proposed fix — which remains a dubiously open question.  According to the California Air Resources Board, methane — a greenhouse gas 72 times more impactful in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide — has been escaping from the Aliso Canyon site with force equivalent "to a volcanic eruption" for about two months now.

Landfills: The climate threat in trash.  While efforts to avert disastrous climate change zoom in on cars, industry and power plants belching harmful gases into the air, a potent source of global warming is stealthily stewing underground:  rotting trash.  Landfills packed with decomposing dinner leftovers and grass clippings are among the world's top sources of methane — one of the most powerful heat-trapping gases contributing to the Earth's warming.

The Editor says...
Yes, but all that trash had to go somewhere, and even if it had been left in the city streets to rot, it would still be rotting.

EPA Moves to Limit Methane Emissions.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled its proposed regulations intended to slash methane emissions from oil and gas production by almost half.  The proposal is part of the Obama administration's ongoing efforts to curb global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. [...] EPA's proposal would limit emissions from new or modified natural gas wells by requiring energy producers to find and repair leaks at oil and gas wells and capture gas escaping from wells that use fracking.  The rules would not apply to existing wells, which number in the thousands.

Claim: Arctic sea ice plays a pivotal role in the Arctic methane cycle.  The ice-covered Arctic Ocean is a more important factor concerning the concentration of the greenhouse gas methane in the atmosphere than previously assumed.  Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) report on the newly discovered interactions between the atmosphere, sea ice and the ocean in a recent online study in the journal Nature's Scientific Reports.

Energy Department smashes pumpkins for causing climate change.  How scary are your jack-o'-lanterns?  Scarier than you think, according to the Energy Department, which claims the holiday squash is responsible for unleashing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.  Most of the 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins produced in the U.S. end up in the trash, says the Energy Department's website, becoming part of the "more than 254 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) produced in the United States every year."  Municipal solid waste decomposes into methane, "a harmful greenhouse gas that plays a part in climate change, with more than 20 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide," Energy says.

The Editor says...
Decaying vegetation produces carbon dioxide and methane, in your front yard, at the city dump, and in the most remote forest.  This isn't a new development, and it does not cause catastrophic global warming, which is obvious because if greenhouse gases caused global warming, the catastrophic warming (that has only recently become a concern) would have started thousands of years ago.

Methane Regulation: Some Personal Recollections.  The White House-EPA plan to control methane emissions is but the latest effort against our domestic energy industry and would simply raise costs to consumers.  It acts like an energy tax, but with no money flowing into the US Treasury — a pure waste of resources.  EPA is apparently unaware that the generally believed greenhouse (GH) effectiveness of methane (when compared to a molecule of CO2) is too high by a factor of about 100.  In addition, atmospheric methane levels are roughly 200 times less than those of CO2 — yielding a GH overestimate of about 20,000.  This display of recent scientific ignorance has brought back memories of 45 years ago.

Methane Madness: Science Does Not Support White House Policy.  Methane has many sources, both natural (about half) and anthropogenic.  The major natural sources are wetlands, swampy areas and bogs; the human-related sources are traditional agricultural ones, related to the growth of world population:  rice paddies and cattle raising (flatulence from ruminants).  More recent sources also include landfills and leaks from oil and gas operations.  Coalmines also emit some methane that occasionally cause explosions there.  There are also many natural sinks of methane, including ozone and hydroxyl (OH) radicals in the troposphere (lower atmosphere).  The combination of sources and sinks leads to an atmospheric lifetime of approximately 10 years.

EPA Targets Fracking With New Global Warming Rules.  The Obama administration has released new regulations on methane emissions from oil and gas drilling as part of the president's effort to show the U.S. is serious about tackling global warming ahead of the United Nations climate summit this year.  The EPA has proposed rules for oil and gas wells that will cut 340,000 to 400,000 short tons of methane emissions in 2025.  The agency is also proposing methane rules for hydraulically fractured, or fracked, wells along with gas "transmission" equipment in the downstream sector of the energy industry.

Obama EPA keeps seizing private property and churning out economy-destroying regulations.  Just last week, EPA proposed rules aimed at reducing methane emissions at oil and natural gas facilities by 40-45 percent over the next decade from 2012 levels, part of meeting Obama's environmental goals and establishing his legacy.  The agency says the proposal is a "common sense plan" to reduce methane, which EPA estimates to have 20 times more of a warming effect than carbon dioxide.  But industry interests say even though natural gas production has jumped dramatically in recent years in the United States, methane levels are already on a downward trend.

EPA Targets Methane Emissions, Provokes Ire From Congressional Republicans.  The Obama administration made major waves on Tuesday [8/18/2015] when it proposed the first ever federal regulations that would require the nation's oil and gas industry to cut emissions of methane.  Congressional Republicans contend it's further proof of the administration's collusion with environmental lobbyists to advance its climate-change agenda despite the lack of science to support it and regardless of the significant economic impact it is expected to have.  The proposal aims to cut methane by 40 to 45 percent by 2025 and would require drillers to stop leaks and capture lost gas in wells intended to extract only oil, as part of a larger push by the Obama administration to cut emissions.  Earlier this month, Obama unveiled the Clean Power Plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent by 2030 and increase the proportion of the nation's electricity generated by renewable sources to 28 percent.  According to The Hill, that regulation is "one of the most expensive EPA regulations ever," as states will have no choice but to implement a carbon tax, cap-and-trade, or dramatic energy efficiency mandates in order to achieve this target.

Climate Hysteria and Methane Madness: Belching Cows, Fracking, and Obama's EPA Mandates.  Is methane an even worse climate villain than CO2? In the run-up to this year's UN Paris Summit on global warming, President Obama, radical NGOs, and professional alarmists in the media are hyping the "threat" that methane (CH4) supposedly presents to the planet.  In January, President Obama announced plans for new EPA mandates aimed at cutting methane emissions by nearly one-half over the next decade.  Hence, the federal regulators are busily crafting and ordering new limits on emissions from cows and other gassy critters, manure piles, landfills, sewers, and motor vehicles, etc.  But the main targets, of course, are the coal, oil, and natural-gas industries.  Coal and oil, especially, have been in the crosshairs, while, until recently, natural gas was the darling of environmentalists, who promoted it as the "clean energy" alternative to its "dirty" hydrocarbon cousins.  However, now that natural-gas production has taken off and is actually replacing significant amounts of coal and oil, its erstwhile champions have turned on it with a vengeance.

Methane Sources & Sinks.  Natural sources of methane include wetlands, gas hydrates, permafrost, termites, oceans, freshwater bodies, non-wetland soils, and other sources such as wildfires.

Methane.  Natural sources of methane have conventionally thought to be dominated by wetlands. Where soils are waterlogged and oxygen concentrations are low or zero, a group of microorganisms called methanogens may produce large amounts of methane as they respire carbon dioxide to derive energy.  Wetland methane emissions are thought to comprise around 80 percent of the total natural methane source, with methane release from termites, methane hydrates (frozen deposits of methane), and the emission from the oceans also being important.  Total annual methane emissions from natural sources are estimated to be around 250 million tonnes.

About Methane.  Wetland methane emissions dominate the natural sources of methane.  Global emissions from natural sources total around 250 million tonnes each year.

Sources of Methane Emissions Still Uncertain: Study.  Climate scientists still haven't figured out the reason for the so-called "pause" in global warming — more accurately, a slowdown in the rate of warming over the past decade or so — even as emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide continue to increase.  But there's another sort of pause, involving a different greenhouse gas, that baffles them as well.  From 1999 through 2006, methane concentrations in the atmosphere stopped increasing after more than a decade of strong growth.  Then they took off again.

An avalanche of environmental regulations is coming.  The Wednesday [11/26/2014] ozone announcement would require factories, refineries and other facilities to cut back on their emissions.  It comes just after the EPA put off its announcement of the required blending volumes this year for the Renewable Fuel Standard, a delay sure to ignite a lobbying and political fracas next year as supporters defend it from changes or an outright repeal.  The Obama administration is also due to release an interagency strategy to reduce emissions of methane, a short-lived but potent greenhouse gas that is 25 times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.

Interior Secretary Jewell Plugs Methane Reduction to Deal With 'Climate Change'.  Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, just back from a submarine trip to the Arctic Circle, says she's seen the melting ice up close, and "there is no question... that the impact of climate change is everywhere."  She said the United States, as the world's largest economy, has a "responsibility to be part of the solution," and she said the solution includes policy changes.

Obama EPA To Regulate Bovine Emissions.  It's our lust for cheeseburgers that's dooming the planet through climate change, the Obama administration said in a Climate Action Plan released Friday [3/28/2014] that seeks to save us all from ruminant livestock.  Having already blamed the Industrial Revolution for what we used to call weather and temperatures that have flat-lined for 15 years, the White House is now targeting American agriculture abundance by slashing methane emissions from cows by 25% by 2020.

White House looks to regulate cow flatulence as part of climate agenda.  As part of its plan to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the Obama administration is targeting the dairy industry to reduce methane emissions in their operations.  This comes despite falling methane emission levels across the economy since 1990.  The White House has proposed cutting methane emissions from the dairy industry by 25 percent by 2020.  Although U.S. agriculture only accounts for about 9 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, it makes up a sizeable portion of methane emissions — which is a very potent greenhouse gas.  Some of these methane emissions come from cow flatulence, exhaling and belching — other livestock animals release methane as well.

Natural Gas Fracking is Not Causing a Methane Spike.  Natural gas fracking is not causing a spike in U.S. methane emissions, the latest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data show.  The data debunk assertions by global warming alarmists that recent declines in U.S. carbon dioxide emissions — caused largely by the increasing use of low-carbon natural gas power — are being offset by rising methane emissions from natural gas fracking.

Cow Flatulence Has a 'Larger Greenhouse Gas Impact' Than Previously Thought; Methane Pushes Climate Change.  According to the new research, livestock's noxious flatulence accounts for a large portion of the methane gas being released into the atmosphere.  Researchers say cows are producing twice as much methane gas as scientists previously believed.  The states producing the most methane gas were Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas — which also happen to have a lot of cows, oil and gas.

Global methane emissions are driven by Soviet leaks, volcanoes and El Niños.
The true story of the drivers of methane.  Methane is a greenhouse gas associated with grazing animals and decaying plant material in swamps and marshes. It has been claimed as a factor contributing to global warming because of an alleged warming effect that is assumed by the IPCC to be 21 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2.  However, when calculated correctly[i] on the basis of atomic weight, the actual multiplier is only 7 and, moreover, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere is about 200 times less that that of CO2.  Methane in the atmosphere is broken down to CO2 and water over a period averaging some 12 years.

Earthquakes 'contribute to global warming by releasing greenhouse gas from the ocean floor'.  Earthquakes may contribute to global warming by releasing greenhouse gas from the ocean floor, a study suggests.  Scientists uncovered evidence that a large earthquake in 1945 released more than seven million cubic metres of methane into the North Arabian Sea.  The discovery exposes a natural source of greenhouse gas emissions that has not been considered before, they claim.

Methane Emissions to the Atmosphere: Natural Vegetation.  The impetus for global cooling due to carbon sequestration by Earth's peatlands historically has been — and currently is — significantly greater than the global warming potential produced by their emissions of methane.

Atmospheric Methane Concentrations.  Atmospheric methane's contribution to anthropogenic climate forcing is estimated to be about half that of CO2 when both direct and indirect components to its forcing are summed, and nearly all models project atmospheric methane (CH4) concentrations will increase for at least the next 3 decades, with many of the scenarios assuming a much larger increase throughout the 21st century.  A quick fact-check, however, reveals that observations lie far below the model projections [...]

Cattle may actually decrease emissions, research shows.  Few things have escaped environmentalists' scorn, and even cows have not been exempt from blame for climate change.  Emissions from livestock production have become an increasing focus of efforts to fight climate change.  The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 11.1% of emissions worldwide come from livestock production, and the organization released a report last year urging Americans to eat less meat.  If people aren't eating meat, the argument goes, then fewer cows are produced.  If there's fewer cows, there's less emissions.  However, research by pro-agribuisness outfits Alltech and Archbold suggests that the thinking on reducing emissions at the source is missing a bigger picture on cattles' relationship with the land, and possibly, by removing grazing from pastures, emissions will actually go up.

The biggest climate lie is about cows.  When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced that people would have to stop eating hamburgers because cow flatulence was an existential threat to life on Earth, most people duly chuckled.  Nevertheless, AOC's call for cow-culling was taken up by the United Nations, European Union, World Economic Forum, and "Climate Envoy" John Kerry.  Protests defending farming in Holland, Ireland, and Belgium opposed these bold attacks on gentle bovines.  Contrary to slanderous arguments by globalist fearmongers, cows are the solution to many of humanity's most significant environmental problems. [...] The focus on cow methane is a deliberate ruse by "manure-deniers."  Cows produce methane through enteric fermentation, but they also generate manure and urine that nurture soils, which in turn absorb methane and carbon dioxide through microbial activity, prevent soil erosion and water loss, and improve the soil microbiome and thus crop productivity — all without the toxic intrusion of the U.S. chemical industry.  If cows are eliminated and replaced with synthetic meats, we are told the environment will benefit:  yet the opposite is easily demonstrated.

Burp-catching mask for gassy cows, designed to reduce methane emissions and slow down climate change, wins prestigious Prince Charles prize.  An innovative face mask for cows, designed to reduce methane emissions and slow down climate change, has won a prestigious design award.  The wearable device for cattle, created by UK-based design group Zelp, was one of the four winners of the inaugural Terra Cart Design Lab competition.  Prince Charles, who launched the competition as part of his Sustainable Markets Initiative, hailed the ground-breaking design as "fascinating" at an awards ceremony in London on Wednesday, The Telegraph reported.  The design, a smart harness for cows, converts methane into carbon dioxide and water vapor.

The Editor says...
Someone should tell you guys that the methane comes from the other end of the cow.  Moreover, what have you gained?  Carbon dioxide and water vapor are greenhouse gases, too.  Just accept the fact that nature doesn't need your help to stay in balance.

It's an Unraveling, Not a Reset.  Modern synthetic fertilizers are typically made using natural gas or from phosphorous-bearing ores.  The former provides the nitrogen that is critical to re-use of fields in commercial agriculture.  They constitute more than half of all synthetic fertilizer production.  So what happens when oil and natural gas extraction are crippled in industrialized nations?  One likely outcome is that the fertilizer manufacturing industry is also crippled, leaving both large commercial growers and smaller farms around the world starved of a key substance they need to grow food for hungry populations.

The campaign to ban gas stoves is heating up.  Over the past three years, dozens of cities across the country have banned natural gas hookups in newly constructed buildings as part of a growing campaign to reduce carbon emissions from homes.  The movement scored a major victory last month, when New York City's outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law a ban on gas hookups in new buildings.  Though new laws apply to the entire home, the policy debate often focuses on one room in particular: the kitchen.  Gas stoves account for a relatively small share of the emissions released by a typical household, but they've become a proxy for a larger fight over how far efforts to curb at-home natural gas consumption in the name of fighting climate change should go.  Natural gas consumption accounts for 80 percent of fossil fuel emissions from residential and commercial buildings, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Editor says...
[#1] If you mean carbon dioxide emissions, don't say, "fossil fuel emissions."  Nobody is emitting fossil fuels from their houses.  [#2] If my house is heated in the winter by natural gas, and carbon dioxide is generated as a byproduct, here's what I care about most:  My house is heated.  If you have any courtroom-quality proof that the combustion of natural gas in the U.S. is harmful to the entire world, please step forward with it.

New York City is banning natural gas hookups for new buildings to fight climate change.  The New York City Council on Wednesday voted to pass legislation banning the use of natural gas in most new construction, a move that will substantially slash climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions from the country's most populous city.  The bill now goes to Mayor Bill de Blasio's desk for signature.  Once signed, the measure will go into effect at the end of 2023 for some buildings under seven stories, and in 2027 for taller buildings.  Hospitals, commercial kitchens and laundromats are exempt from the ban.  Under the law, construction projects submitted for approval after 2027 must use sources like electricity for stoves, space heaters and water boilers instead of gas or oil.  Residents who currently have gas stoves and heaters in their homes will not be impacted unless they relocate to a new building.

Methane Fee Is Latest Step in Biden Plan to Kill U.S. Economy.  President Biden has a methane fee in his Build Back Better bill and his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a rule to reduce methane emissions.  Biden announced at COP26 proposed methane rules put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which go beyond any previous regulation of methane in the United States, forcing operators of both new and existing infrastructure to monitor and fix leaks of methane.  The EPA proposed rules would establish standards for old wells, impose more frequent and stringent leak monitoring, and require the capture of natural gas that is found with oil.  In the House Democrat proposed reconciliation bill, methane fees of as much as $1,500 per ton would be imposed on oil and gas infrastructure — from wells and pipelines to the terminals that process natural gas for export.  Together, the additional costs and fees that would result from these policies and regulations would disadvantage American producers, increase Americans' energy costs and cause 90,000 jobs to be lost across the country.  EPA's proposal would, for the first time, regulate existing facilities and would also add additional requirements to newly built or modified facilities, which were previously regulated under a 2016 rule.

EPA moves to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas.  The Biden administration on Tuesday [11/2/2021] announced a proposal to regulate methane from oil and gas sources, touting the rules as having the potential to produce immediate emissions cuts and hoping the proposal will bolster U.S. clout at the ongoing U.N. climate conference.  Methane, the main component of natural gas, is less known than carbon, the biggest contributor to climate change.  But emissions from methane are driving more than 25% of global warming, mostly caused purposely or accidentally by leaks during production and transportation of natural gas.  Those methane leaks could offset the carbon reduction benefits of the switch in recent years from coal to natural gas and renewables for generating electricity in the United States.

The Editor says...
The article above, judging by the first few sentences, appears to have been written by a Democrat Party activist.  So-called renewable energy isn't going to solve any problem that anybody has.  Natural gas is clean and abundant, and should be utilized to its fullest potential.  Any "global warming" that you prevent by eliminating the use of natural gas will be negated the next time Mount Pinatubo erupts, as it did in 1991.  Aside from that, consider the statement that methane "is less known than carbon, the biggest contributor to climate change."  There are several things wrong with this deceptive assertion; for example:  [#1] Carbon dioxide is not carbon.  [#2] Carbon dioxide doesn't cause climate change.  The climate constantly changes with or without slight changes in the CO2 content of the atmosphere.  [#3] Lots of things contribute to climate change, especially the variable output power of the Sun.  In the sentence prior to that, there was a statement that "emissions from methane are driving more than 25% of global warming."  Presumably the writer means, "emissions of methane," but even so, methane does not cause "more than 25% of global warming."  For one thing, there is not enough global warming to be of any concern at the moment.  But more importantly, water vapor has a far greater influence in the greenhouse effect than methane.  Water vapor comes from the lakes and oceans and can never be stopped.

Biden administration unveils oil and gas rules to cut methane emissions.  The Biden administration presented sweeping regulations targeting the oil and gas industry Tuesday in an effort to cut back on the emission of methane, a greenhouse gas more harmful than carbon dioxide in the short term.  The proposals, announced at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, known as COP26, mark the first time the federal government has offered a comprehensive rules package to limit the release of methane.  Speaking in Scotland, Mr. Biden said the initiatives are critical to meet world leaders' goal of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The Editor says...
The goal is to keep "global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius."  Really?  1.5° above what?  (When did we vote on this 1.5-degree figure?)  What is the Goldilocks temperature that's ju-u-u-ust right, and how do you know, and what are you willing to forfeit to cool the earth or stay within your arbitrary limits?  And if the earth cools 1.5° on its own, before any of your schemes are implemented, are you willing to retire from politics forever?

Climate Alarmists Propose Feeding Cows Seaweed to Reduce Methane [Emissions].  Environmentalists intent on finding new ways to reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions to curb climate change have proposed a novel method:  feed cows seaweed to diminish methane in flatulence, belches, and manure.  Ermias Kebreab, an zoology professor at the University of California-Davis, led a team in producing a bovine meal regimen containing varying levels of Asparagopsis armata, a strain of red seaweed, and fed it to 12 dairy cows over a two-month period.  In a mix containing just 1 percent seaweed, the cows' methane emissions went down by a stunning 60 percent.

The Editor says...
Even if that's all true, and even if methane emissions are a problem (which I doubt), most of the cows in North America don't live near the ocean.  How is all that seaweed going to get to Kansas?  (Hint:  Diesel engines!)

German Green Party Proposes Ban on All Industrial Farming.  The Green party in Germany said it will ban industrial farming to reduce global warming if it comes to power.  The measure was proposed by Katrin Goering-Eckardt, the party's leader in the Germany parliament, as part of a massive €100 billion project to finance climate initiatives.  For several years, climate change doomsayers have turned their attention to cattle, as a series of reports demonstrated that "livestock emissions" are more dangerous for the environment than automobiles.

The Editor says...
If farming is "dangerous for the environment," what is the solution?  If you eliminate farming, nearly everybody will starve.  At that point, what is the purpose of saving the environment?

California:  Proof That Everything The Liberals Run Turns [Bad].  The climate change debate heats up, again because of hurricanes, earthquakes, rain, and more.  Trump pulling out of the Paris accord will destroy us even more.  Yes, yes, yes, only humans can prevent global warming.  Volcanos and cows have nothing to do with it.  Well, volcanos release over half a billion tons of carbon emissions a year!  And then there are cows.  Yes, I said cows!  According to a report issued by the United Nuts (UN) in 2006, they claimed livestock (mostly made up of cows) and I quote, "generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2, over 18% than transportation does."  Kill all cows and fix the problem, right?

Now California's Climate Cops are Going After the Cows.  California is sliding slowly into the abyss.  It's not enough that 9,000 companies have packed up and moved to more tax-friendly states.  The Bay Area is so expensive that few can afford to live there.  Progressives run the place like their own personal slot machine.  The California Air Resources Board has issued regulations to cut the state's greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, but the board is getting worried about their climate agenda.  It could all be ruined by natural phenomena.  They've gone after the oil producers, the manufacturers and now they are going after the cows. It's methane, which "according to the board is a 'short-lived climate pollutant with an outsized impact on climate change in the near term.'"  "Cow manure and 'enteric fermentation' (flatulence) account for half of the state's methane emissions."

The Editor says...
Methane from cows is not a pollutant.  It is part of a natural cycle that has been going on for as long as cows, termites and volcanoes have been around.  And if cows are responsible for half of the methane emissions in the state, then the state doesn't have a serious problem.  There will always be cows, and the cows will do what cows do.  In any case, if California reduces its methane emissions to zero, but Mexico and Nevada do not, then what has been gained?

On the other hand, methane buildup can be deadly.
Wisconsin farmer, 16 cows dead after being overcome with manure fumes.  A coroner revealed Tuesday [8/16/2016] that a Wisconsin farmer and more than a dozen cows died when they became overcome by fumes from a huge manure holding tank.  According to WAOW-TV, Michael Biadasz, 29, was found by other farmers early Monday when they arrived at Biadasz Farms near Amherst to haul away manure from the football field-sized tanker.  Portage County Coroner Scott Rifleman said that the deaths of Biadasz and at least 16 cows are under investigation, but that they were probably overcome by methane or sulfur oxide.  Rifleman said the farmer agitated the tank and that this, along with warm upper air temperatures, created a deadly dome of air.

Gassy German cows cause barn explosion.  The blast, caused by a concentration of gas emitted by a group of 90 cows, damaged the roof of their cow shed — leaving one of the animals injured.

Inconvenient: worms, clams, release as much greenhouse gas as 20,000 dairy cows.  Scientists have shown that ocean clams and worms are releasing a significant amount of potentially harmful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.  The team, from Cardiff University and Stockholm University, have shown that the ocean critters are producing large amounts of the strongest greenhouse gases — methane and nitrous oxides — from the bacteria in their guts.  Methane gas is making its way into the water and then finally out into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming — methane has 28 times greater warming potential than carbon dioxide.  A detailed analysis showed that around 10 percent of total methane emissions from the Baltic Sea may be due to clams and worms.

Aquatic life emits gases.  Mussels, freshwater snails and other underwater creatures emit a potent greenhouse gas as they feed, according to a study that adds a small aquatic dimension to the impact of wildlife on global warming.  The animals, also including worms and insect larvae, emitted nitrous oxide — commonly known as laughing gas — as a by-product of their digestion when nitrate was present in water.

Shepherd or shoot goats in the name of climate change.  A single one-way Boeing 747 flight from Chicago to London emits about 200 tons of carbon dioxide, or about 5,000 times the annual emissions from a gasoline-powered lawn mower of a homeowner.  It appears that emissions savings from O'Hare goats will be relatively small.  But what about methane emissions from the herd?

Mysterious Poop Foam Causes Explosions on Hog Farms.  You see, starting in about 2009, in the pits that capture manure under factory-scale hog farms, a gray, bubbly substance began appearing at the surface of the fecal soup.  The problem is menacing:  As manure breaks down, it emits toxic gases like hydrogen sulfide and flammable ones like methane, and trapping these noxious fumes under a layer of foam can lead to sudden, disastrous releases and even explosions.  According to a 2012 report from the University of Minnesota, by September 2011, the foam had "caused about a half-dozen explosions in the upper Midwest ... one explosion destroyed a barn on a farm in northern Iowa, killing 1,500 pigs and severely burning the worker involved."

Earthquakes 'contribute to global warming by releasing greenhouse gas from the ocean floor'.  Earthquakes may contribute to global warming by releasing greenhouse gas from the ocean floor, a study suggests.  Scientists uncovered evidence that a large earthquake in 1945 released more than seven million cubic metres of methane into the North Arabian Sea.  The discovery exposes a natural source of greenhouse gas emissions that has not been considered before, they claim.