Trump Picks Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright To Lead Department Of Energy

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN - JULY 20: Republican Presidential nominee former President Donald J. Trump holds his first public campaign rally with his running mate, Vice Presidential nominee U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) (not pictured), at the Van Andel Arena on July 20, 2024 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is also Trump's first public rally since he was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13. Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Republican Presidential nominee former President Donald J. Trump holds his first public campaign rally with his running mate, Vice Presidential nominee U.S. Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

OAN Staff Abril Elfi
3:08 PM – Saturday, November 16, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump has announced he has selected CEO of Liberty Energy Chris Wright to lead the Department of Energy in his new administration.

On Saturday, Trump released a statement announcing Wright’s position in his new cabinet.

“I am thrilled to announce that Chris Wright will be joining my Administration as both United States Secretary of Energy, and Member of the newly formed Council of National Energy,” Trump said. “Wright has been a leading technologist and entrepreneur in Energy.”

“He has worked in Nuclear, Solar, Geothermal, and Oil and Gas,” Trump’s statement read. “Most significantly, Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fueled American Energy Independence, and transformed the Global Energy Markets and Geopolitics.”

According to Liberty Energy’s website, Wright earned a degree in mechanical engineering from MIT. He also pursued graduate studies in electrical engineering at both the University of California, Berkeley, and MIT.

“[Wright] is a self-described tech nerd turned entrepreneur and a dedicated humanitarian on a mission to better human lives by expanding access to abundant, affordable, and reliable energy,” the company’s website reads.

The announcement comes as Trump’s campaign focused on energy independence and increasing oil and gas production.

During his campaign, Trump promised to expand fracking and end the pause on liquefied natural gas exports, highlighting a significant departure from the policies of his predecessor.

The president-elect has pledged to use his second White House term to withdraw from the Paris climate accord once again, roll back stringent emissions standards for vehicles and power plants, and boost U.S. oil and gas production, including through expanded fracking.

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

‘It is disgusting’ to watch ‘brainwashing’ at these colleges: Rep. Buddy Carter R-Ga., criticizes Biden’s $7 billion renewable “solar power” energy and spending policies, as well as anti-Israel protests surging across esteemed college campuses.

Feds charge two Iranian nationals in elaborate oil scheme to fund jihad terror

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/02/feds-charge-two-iranian-nationals-in-elaborate-oil-scheme-to-fund-jihad-terror; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

The failure of the mainstream media to report adequately about this elaborate multi-million-dollar scheme “to fund Islamic terrorism through the violation of U.S. sanctions and the trafficking of Iranian oil” is another demonstration of how regularly the most important news stories are being ignored and concealed. As the article below points out, “no U.S. agency or news outlet has released any photographs of the alleged terrorists.” Why protect them?

The promotion of woke indoctrination has become the focus of primetime news features, while stories involving national security and the defense of Western traditions and freedoms are largely underreported, inadequately reported or relegated to a minor file. The article below points out that Iranian oil is a major funding source for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This in itself demonstrates that this story should be headline news, with photos of the two people who have been charged. Reuters did manage to report that the charges were “linked to a billion-dollar oil trafficking network that it says finances Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other militant groups.”

Add in the entire network of terrorism funding streams via Muslim Brotherhood-connected sources, and one can see that America and other globalist Western countries have become lucrative bases of activity for powerful terror networks. This, combined with open borders, is quickly leading to the demise of the West. Yet none of this gets discussed in mainstream news outlets.

“U.S. Charges Two Foreign Nationals for Trafficking Iranian Oil to Fund Islamic Terrorism,” by Amy Mek, RAIR Foundation, February 25, 2024:

Curiously, despite the high-profile nature of this case and the serious charges levied against Shaoyun Wang and Mahmood Rashid Amur Al Habsi, it appears no U.S. agency or news outlet has released any photographs of the alleged terrorists.

In a striking demonstration of the ongoing challenges facing the United States in keeping terrorists at bay, a joint operation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., and the FBI Minneapolis has led to the indictment of two foreign nationals for their roles in a sophisticated scheme to fund Islamic terrorism through the violation of U.S. sanctions and the trafficking of Iranian oil. The operation reveals not only the intricate methods employed by individuals to operate within American borders but also underscores the persistent threat and the nation’s ongoing battle against the financing of global terrorism.

On February 2, Shaoyun Wang, 54, of China, and Mahmood Rashid Amur Al Habsi, 39, of Oman, were charged under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, in addition to facing charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The duo is accused of facilitating the export of over $100 million worth of Iranian oil to Chinese government-owned refineries, with the profits intended to support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), a designated terrorist organization.

This case forms part of a broader effort by the Justice Department to dismantle the illicit financial networks that fuel Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its malign activities, as announced in a recent comprehensive enforcement action. The unsealing of three federal cases across two U.S. Attorneys’ Offices marks a significant stride in combating the trafficking of Iranian oil, which serves as a major funding source for the IRGC, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and its Qods Force, Iran’s primary vehicle for supporting terrorist organizations abroad.

The enforcement actions have led to the seizure of more than $108 million and over 500,000 barrels of sanctioned fuel, significantly undercutting the financial backbone of Iran’s IRGC and its external operations wing, the IRGC-QF. This concerted effort demonstrates the U.S. government’s commitment to using every tool at its disposal to disrupt Iran’s unlawful revenue streams, highlighting the seizure as a pivotal step in curtailing the regime’s ability to finance its destabilizing activities that threaten U.S. national security and global peace……

Iran’s navy seizes oil tanker that once was at center of major crisis between the Islamic Republic and Washington

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/01/irans-navy-seizes-oil-tanker-that-once-was-at-center-of-major-crisis-between-the-islamic-republic-and-washington; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

The mullahs know the Biden regime is weak and so treasonous and appeasement-minded that it just sent them $10 billion. So they know that the U.S. will do nothing.

“‘Unauthorized’ men in military garb take over contentious oil tanker in Gulf of Oman — one day after Houthi rebels strike in full-scale drone, missile attack,” Associated Press, January 11, 2024:

Iran’s navy seized an oil tanker on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman that once was at the center of a major crisis between Tehran and Washington, officials said, a seizure that further escalates tensions in the Mideast waterways.

The vessel was once known as the Suez Rajan and was involved in a yearlong dispute that ultimately saw the U.S. Justice Department seize 1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil on it.

The seizure also comes after weeks of attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea, including their largest barrage ever of drones and missiles launched late Tuesday.

That has raised the risk of possible retaliatory strikes by U.S.-led forces now patrolling the vital waterway, especially after a United Nations Security Council vote on Wednesday condemning the Houthis and as American and British officials warned of potential consequences over the attacks.

Iran’s state-run television acknowledged the seizure late Thursday afternoon, hours after armed men boarded it.

The oil tanker was boarded in the Gulf of Oman by “unauthorized” people in military uniforms early on Thursday morning.

“The violating oil tanker Suez Rajan … stole Iranian oil by leading it to the Americans and delivered it to the Americans,” state TV said.

It said Iran’s navy, rather than its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, conducted the seizure….

Netanyahu: No ‘Pause,’ No Ceasefire, No Fuel For Gaza Unless Hostages Released

AP Photo/Evan Vucci
"We won't stop until victory," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a short, televised address on Friday. He told the Israeli people that he had rejected U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's suggestion of a humanitarian "pause" in the fighting that does not include a release of their hostages. He also says Israel “will not enable the entry of fuel to Gaza.”

He promised that victory would be “sharp and clear” and would “resonate for generations.”

For the first time since the war began, we can see daylight between the U.S. and Israeli governments. As Israel continues to prosecute a war that, by necessity, is leading to a high civilian death toll, Israel's friends find it more and more difficult to give the Jewish state unqualified support.

I'm pretty sure Netanyahu was aware of this going into the war. It doesn't appear that anything the United States says or does will deter him from achieving his number one war aim: destroying Hamas so they can never threaten to security of the Israeli people again.

Times of Israel:

He says he told Blinken that “Israel refuses a temporary ceasefire that does not include the release of our hostages. Israel will not enable the entry of fuel to Gaza and opposes sending money to the Strip.”

He notes that Israel has lost hundreds of civilians and soldiers on and since October 7 — wonderful fighters, incredible Israelis… people who blocked these monsters with their bodies.”

He tells some of their stories and says they “sacrificed their lives for our lives.”

“We are trying to fight with minimal danger to our warriors, but we will do whatever is needed to defeat our enemies,” he concludes.

Indeed, the call for a "humanitarian pause" would only give Hamas time to regroup and dig in. And a pause would definitely do no favors for the Israeli and foreign hostages being held in Gaza. Netanyahu has no choice. All he has for leverage regarding the hostages is Israel's ability to make life absolutely miserable for Gazans. 

Hamas, of course, is doing fine. It's the Gazans who are suffering and even if public opinion turned against Hamas -- a remote possibility -- the terrorists wouldn't care. They're not at war to save the Palestinians or create a homeland for them. They are fighting a holy war to destroy Israel. 

Hamas certainly doesn't care about a "pause" except how they can use it to better their strategic position.

Wall Street Journal:

As Israeli forces have advanced, quickly encircling Gaza City and bearing down on tunnel networks and strongholds, Hamas would like nothing more than to slow them down.

It strains credibility to think Hamas wouldn’t use a pause to its advantage. Nor is Hamas likely to release all hostages and forfeit its best leverage. It may drag out negotiations, dribbling out hostages to win reprieve after reprieve, plus propaganda bumps.

The way to help Palestinian civilians isn’t to slow the Israeli advance. The less control Hamas has over Gaza’s streets, the more civilians can escape the fighting and the more aid can be brought in securely. The ground invasion has already allowed humanitarian assistance to ramp up, with more than 100 truckloads now arriving each day. Hamas would use freedom of action to keep civilians as shields and pilfer more aid—limiting what Israel can let in.

The fate of the hostages may be uncertain but they are possibly Hamas's last, most potent weapon. As their infrastructure and fighters are being systematically eliminated, Hamas's only hope for survival is the intercession of others — the United States in particular — who could use its influence to stop Israel short of their primary war aim of destroying Hamas.

At the moment, Biden is still — reluctantly — on board. But Biden is in a campaign for re-election and anything is possible if American public opinion changes.

Israel cuts off food, water and power to Gaza: Day 3 update~Israel Hits 1,000 Hamas Targets in Gaza

Hamas is threatening to execute one captured Israeli for every civilian house bombed without pre-warning. This as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel's retaliation against Hamas has only just begun and it will change the Middle East.

Israel Hits 1,000 Hamas Targets in Gaza

Biden Offshore Drilling Plan Is the Most Restrictive In US History

If it’s taken you a month to recover from all the whoppers contained in the first “Biden 2024” ad – especially its claim that ol’ Joe engaged in “passing laws” that “make us more energy independent” – get ready for another Biden-created insult to your intelligence and attack on your wallet.

Iran, Venezuela and Syria sign groundbreaking tripartite deal to construct oil refinery in Homs, Syria

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/10/iran-venezuela-and-syria-sign-groundbreaking-tripartite-deal-to-construct-oil-refinery-in-homs;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The new tripartite deal just signed by Iran, Venezuela, and Syria to construct a groundbreaking oil refinery in Homs, with a capacity of 140,000 barrels per day, further strengthens the collaboration, as well as the economies, of these countries. Iran has been significantly aiding Syria and Venezuela to bypass the impact of Western sanctions — providing both countries with technical, economic, and military aid.

Iran’s relationships with Syria and Venezuela could be disastrous for Western interests. In 2020, U.S. Southern Command chief Admiral Craig Faller warned that Iran’s Quds Force was sending weapons and troops to Venezuela. In 2022, Venezuela provided Iran with 1,000,000 hectares of  alleged “farmland for cultivation.” That same year, an independent Israeli intelligence analyst stated that a Venezuelan cargo plane was linked to Iran’s attempts to attack Israelis. Venezuela has also hosted Hizballah and Fatah cells involved in money laundering, drug dealing, and jihad activity.

As for Syria, Iran carries out much of its proxy activities and plots against Israel there. In April, Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Hizballah talked further about “resistance” against Israel. Last month, it was revealed that Iran is now building a new airstrip in southern Syria, only twelve miles away from the Israeli border.

“Iran, Venezuela, Syria ink tripartite deal to construct a refinery in Homs,” Tehran Times, October 1, 2023:

TEHRAN – Iran, Venezuela, and Syria have signed a trilateral agreement to cooperate on constructing a new oil refinery in Syria’s Homs Province, a senior official with the Iranian Oil Ministry said.

Deputy Oil Minister Jalil Salari provided the information in an interview with Iranian media, IRNA reported on Sunday.

The deal foresees the construction of “a new 140,000-barrel refinery,” whose required oil would be provided jointly by the Islamic Republic and Venezuela, Salari said.

“The [relevant] fundamental studies and designing process [for implementation of the project] has been completed,” the official noted.

The refinery would complement two already functioning ones, the Banias Refinery and the Homs Refinery, which are both located in western Syria.

According to Salari, “the financing and construction [phases of the project] are on the agenda.”

Iran and Syria have also signed a memorandum of understanding towards repairing the 110,000-barrel oil refinery that is located in Homs, the Iranian official reported….

World’s Worst Philanthropist Honors Our Second-Worst President, JIMMY CARTER

World’s Worst Philanthropist Honors Our Second-Worst President
(AP Photo)
When you think of Jimmy Carter and his disastrous presidency, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Galloping inflation? The energy crisis? The national “malaise”? Appeasement of the Soviets? Appeasement of the Palestinian jihadis?

All that and more can be said about Carter’s sorry record as president, topped only lately by the frankly anti-American Biden regime, but as far as the world’s worst and scariest philanthropist, Bill Gates, is concerned, none of that is President Cornpone’s greatest achievement. The Gates Foundation has just awarded Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter with a lifetime achievement award for their “near-eradication of guinea worm disease.”

No, I am not making this up. Atlanta’s WSB reported Wednesday that America’s second-worst president, Jimmy Carter, and his wife Rosalyn “have been awarded for their lifetime of philanthropy and leadership with a lifetime achievement award from the Gates Foundation.” By “philanthropy and leadership,” of course, the Gates Foundation means “sanctimony and globalism.”

The award that Mr. and Mrs. Peanut got is called the Goalkeepers Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Gates Foundation explained why they deserved this illustrious and coveted honor: “From the near-eradication of guinea worm disease to their work for peace and democracy, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s trailblazing leadership has made a difference for the world. We’re thrilled to give them the Goalkeepers Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Well, yeah, Carter certainly has made a difference in the world. He weakened America on the world stage in what turned out to be the final stages of the Cold War, which his successor, Ronald Reagan, brought to a close by abandoning Carter’s policies of appeasement. He emboldened genocidal Palestinian jihadis by forcing Israel to accept the fiction of Palestinian nationality and make numerous other concessions in the widely and unjustly hailed Camp David Accords. He embodied pusillanimity as he adopted the pose of the self-righteous schoolmarm, scolding America to turn down the thermostat in response to a fictional energy crisis (created by a forest of regulations that Reagan cleared away, thus ending the crisis).

Political cartoonists of the day took to portraying Carter as a tiny man seated in a massive presidential chair; throughout his presidency, the conviction grew among Americans that he was just too small a man for the job. Thus it is fitting that Bill Gates would look up from his efforts to depopulate America and the world and decide that the great achievement for which Jimmy Carter ought to be remembered and honored is the “near-eradication of guinea worm disease.” Maybe it takes one worm to eradicate another.

Related: Jimmy Carter’s REAL Personality and What It Reveals About the Left’s Hypocrisy

After all, what else could the Gates Foundation say? That Carter emboldened and strengthened America’s enemies, as has nearly every president who has followed him into the Oval Office? That the “malaise” for which Carter wagged his finger at Americans has now become the official policy of the Biden regime? That regime appears bent on removing every source of comfort and happiness from American lives and leaving us riding stinking, jam-packed electric buses on the way home from our joyless jobs to our overcrowded, dilapidated, crime-ridden yet high-rent apartment blocks, where a revolting meal of bugs awaits us.

Carter set the ball rolling toward that dystopian future when he called upon Americans to swelter in the summertime and freeze in the winter so as to address a crisis he created. Half a century later, the America-Last successors of Carter are preparing to force Americans to take similar steps to solve the fake crisis of “climate change” as Merrick Garland’s Gestapo is poised to put dissidents on terror watch lists.

The father of the dystopia we already enjoy is Jimmy Carter, and so he is more deserving of an award from the sinister and dystopia-minded Gates Foundation than anyone else, with the possible exception of Old Joe Biden himself. But hey, there’s always next year to honor the conscienceless kleptocrat who now sits in the Oval Office.

If Gates does honor Old Joe, he could throw in a new award also: the Jimmy Carter Award, given to the president of the United States who damages the country the most while crowing about how much he has accomplished and smugly hectoring the American people to look up his works and hail him for his magnificence. Who would have thought that Jimmy Carter, of all people, would become the paradigmatic president in our Age of Absurdity? But here we are.

Biden Admin Quietly Moves To Ban Natural Gas Transport Via Rail Systems

Biden Admin Quietly Moves To Ban Natural Gas Transport Via Rail Systems

EAST PALESTINE, OH - FEBRUARY 23: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (C) visits with Department of Transportation Investigators at the site of the derailment on February 23 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. On February 3rd, a Norfolk Southern Railways train carrying toxic chemicals derailed causing an environmental disaster. Thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate after the area was placed under a state of emergency and temporary evacuation orders (Photo by Brooke LaValley-Pool/Getty Images)
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (C) visits with Department of Transportation Investigators at the site of the derailment on February 23 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. (Photo by Brooke LaValley-Pool/Getty Images)

OAN’s James Meyers
1:09 PM – Wednesday, September 6, 2023

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/biden-admin-quietly-moves-to-ban-natural-gas-transport-via-rail-systems/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The Biden Administration quietly reversed a Trump-era regulation by moving to ban the transport of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by rail system. 

In a federal filing on Friday, ahead of Labor Day weekend, the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), moved to suspend a Trump-era rule allowing the transport of LNG via train cars.

However, the rule will remain in effect until a permanent rule regarding a new LNG rail tank car transportation is proposed and put into place, which could take several months or until June 30, 2025. 

“We are encouraged by the decision to suspend the dangerous practice of transporting highly flammable LNG by rail through communities,” said Patrick Grenter, the director of eco group Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign.

“We have seen the destruction that an accident can cause to communities bordering the railway route, often communities most impacted by pollution and we support any step that will keep it from happening again,” he added. “We urge PHMSA to make the only reasonable decision available to them: make the suspension permanent and ban LNG by rail once and for all.” 

This news comes after Democrat lawmakers had written to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg earlier this year, pleading for a permanent ban on LNG transportation by a rail system, citing safety risks pointed out by a handful of environmental groups. 

The PHMSA claimed that the new rule would help the federal government limit public health risks and environmental consequences.

The agency also stated that the new regulation will allow enough time to complete ongoing testing and evaluation for LNG rail transportation, which can help create mitigation measures to limit risks during transportation. 

“This suspension will give time for PHMSA, in conjunction with the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering as well as its Canadian regular counterparts, to complete critical research on transporting cryogenic liquids like LNG (and hydrogen) by rail more safely,” said PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown. “This research is expected to conclude in the next year or so and will inform future federal safety regulations from PHMSA and the FRA.”

Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, said that the move by the Biden administration was the latest example of its war on energy. 

“Today the Biden administration has fired another salvo in its war on American energy by essentially prohibiting the movement of LNG by rail,” Cruz said. “America is a leader in reducing carbon emissions largely because of the United States development and use of natural gas. The energy renaissance we are seeing in this country is producing enormous environmental benefits.”

“This is yet another example of why the Biden administration cannot be trusted to implement pro-domestic energy policies,” he added.

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

GOP slams Biden administration’s proposal for home water heaters amid CO2 emission fears

 

First, They Came for Your Gas Stove. Now They're Coming for Your Hot Water Heater.

SEE ALSO: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/07/23/first-they-came-for-your-gas-stove-now-theyre-coming-for-your-hot-water-heater-n1712949

BY BROOKE MALLORY

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/gop-slams-biden-administrations-proposal-for-home-water-heaters-amid-co2-emission-fears/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (L) looks on as US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm (R) speaks during a daily press briefing. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN’s Brooke Mallory
11:33 AM – Sunday, July 23, 2023  

If a new Department of Energy plan that has been heavily opposed by Republican senators becomes law, water heaters might soon be subject to considerably stricter efficiency criteria.

The Biden administration is currently pushing towards requiring the majority of electric water heaters to adopt heat pump technology and gas-fired water heaters to utilize condensing technology in a draft regulation.

The proposal was released by the Department of Energy (DOE) on Friday.

It comes months after the Biden administration sparked a tempest over feared stovetop rules, with Albany, New York, lawmakers passing a contentious first-in-the-nation gas stove ban.

“Today’s actions, together with our industry partners and stakeholders, improve outdated efficiency standards for common household appliances, which is essential to slashing utility bills for American families and cutting harmful carbon emissions,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.

The Biden administration reportedly claims that the regulation “plan,” which is slated to take effect in 2029, would save Americans $198 billion and reduce CO2 emissions by 501 million metric tons over the following 30 years. However, these proposed numbers and estimates have been disputed by many analysts from GOP think tanks.

Minimum efficiency criteria for oil-fired storage water heaters, gas-fired water heaters, and gas-fired instantaneous water heaters will be heavily raised by the department.

“This proposal reinforces the trajectory of consumer savings that forms the key pillar of Bidenomics and builds on the unprecedented actions already taken by this Administration to lower energy costs for working families across the nation,” Granholm continued.

According to the agency, water heating accounts for 23% of consumer utility expenses and yearly residential energy usage.

Congress compels the agency to develop efficiency criteria, and it claims to have last modified its water heater policy in 2010.

Thomas Massie, a Republican U.S. representative for Kentucky’s 4th congressional district since 2012, shared his thoughts on the new water-heating proposal on Twitter.

 “Leave us alone. These products already exist in the free market. Consumers should decide whether the upfront cost of a heat-pump water heater is worth the possible long term savings. In many cases, the monthly savings never make up for the upfront cost of the equipment,” Massie said.

“From the people who want showers and faucets without enough water pressure, dishwashers that don’t fully clean, washers and dryers that fully wash or dry, etc., they now want water heaters that don’t fully and quickly heat. All in the name of ‘environmentalism’ or ‘climate change,’” said a separate social media user.

These new regulations would apply to new water heaters that enter the market in 2029.

The departments emphasized that President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act includes “tax credits, rebates, and other incentives” to help people save money on more efficient water heaters.

The new suggestion has already sparked debate among many notable online users.

“First they came for your gas stoves. Then they came for your dishwashers. Next, they came for your water heaters and air conditioners. Now the Biden apparatchiks are coming for your portable gas generators,” Forbes contributor David Blackmon asserted.

In recent months, the government has also taken steps to tighten requirements for a variety of domestic equipment, including air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, and others. A member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission sparked outrage earlier this year when he suggested that a widespread ban on gas stoves may be on the table.

The House voted last month to prevent the federal government from doing so in the future, and the Senate has not yet voted on that bill.

The Biden administration boasted in December of last year that it had taken 110 steps to boost efficiency regulations in 2022 to help its “climate change goals.”

Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts

 

Well, Biden Screwed Us Forever on Another Damn Thing

Well, Biden Screwed Us Forever on Another Damn Thing

BY STEPHEN GREEN

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2023/07/19/well-biden-screwed-us-forever-on-another-damn-thing-n1711962;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

I was thinking of Presidentish Joe Biden on Sunday when I was filling my Jeep’s smallish 15-gallon gas tank to the tune of $50 when it still had a couple of gallons left. Remember (because maybe he doesn’t) when Biden was emptying our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to force down gas prices in time for the midterms, promising to fill ‘er back up once prices dropped low enough?

Yeah, about that. The SPR is probably never going to be refilled, according to one expert, and maybe not even for the reason that first popped into your mind.

Let me set the stage for today’s big reveal.

The SPR was created under President Gerald Ford in 1975 following the 1973–1974 Arab oil embargo, which turned out to be just the first of that decade’s two major oil shocks. Set in massive salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas, the SPR was supposed to hold enough crude oil—714 million barrels— to help us weather any future embargo. While it was never large enough to do that for any significant time, the SPR’s very existence strengthened our geopolitical position versus some very nasty oil producers in places like Iran and Russia.

It took until about 2010—35 years!—to fill those reservoirs all the way up. It took Dementia Joe just two years to cut our reserves in half, down to levels not seen since 1983.

Biden and the SPR
(Chart courtesy of Zero Hedge.)

All to buy his party a few more votes on Election Day. “It could take decades to put it all back,” Julianne Geiger warned at OilPrice on Tuesday. (Hat tip, Zero Hedge.) Geiger writes that “the SPR could stay half-empty forever.”

That is, if prices ever come down long enough to make refilling profitable—if those salt caverns even can handle being refilled.

I always figured that the Biden Cabal was never serious about refilling the SPR. That crew cares about exactly one thing: the next election. If permanently damaging our economic security could save them a few House or Senate seats for just two years, well, that’s a small price (for somebody else) to pay.

But it was news to me when Geiger noted the “issue of infrastructure and feasibility of filling, withdrawing, refilling, etc. of the SPR.”

She continued:

Those salt caverns are made of… well, salt, and according to SPR former project manager William Gibson, who spoke to Bloomberg, they were built—in the ‘70s—with the idea that they would last 25 years. They were also designed to be withdrawn and refilled just five times, lest the salt caverns simply dissolve.

As one former official put it, the caverns were “not really intended for daily ATM-type operations.”

So. Even if the Biden Cabal were willing to risk sending gas prices back up by pumping more crude into SPR storage (which they aren’t), they’d have to take into account the advanced age of the facilities (which they won’t) and prepare to find replacements (which their Green Nude Eel friends would forbid).

In short, should the geopolitical situation or our domestic oil production suddenly change—either could make us more dependent again on foreign oil—we’d have an SPR cushion no bigger than it was in 1983.

1983, when our oil needs were much smaller and we were still in the process of wisely adding to the SPR instead of stupidly withdrawing from it like our national reserve is the Democrats’ private piggy bank.

Most days, I manage to laugh or at least just shrug at the short-sighted, destructive, vindictive, petty, and ham-fisted preening morons in the Biden White House, but today they have me seething.

Iran Seizes More Tankers in Persian Gulf~The Islamic Republic’s actions are a slap in the face to the Biden regime.

BY KENNETH R. TIMMERMAN

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/iran-seizes-more-tankers-in-persian-gulf/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Last Wednesday we learned that the Iranian regime had seized a second oil tanker recently in the Persian Gulf, forcing it to dock at an Iranian port under orders from the regime’s “judiciary.”

It was seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Go-fast boats in the Strait of Hormuz. This remains the world’s most important oil transit chokepoint, according to the US Energy Information Administration, where roughly 20% of the world’s oil transits every day.

The Pentagon subsequently informed us that these two incidents were just the latest of fifteen cases since Biden came to the White House where Iran has threatened or attacked international shipping in the Persian Gulf region.

These kinds of attacks are unacceptable. The Iranians know that, and I guarantee you our enemies and adversaries know that. And yet the Iranians act with impunity. Why?

For starters, they know the current U.S. President. Biden has been taking money and supporting pro-Tehran regime lobbyists since at least 2002 when a group of Tehran supporters threw a fund-raiser for him in California that brought in $30,000.

From then on, Biden became a reliable vote (along with Senator Chuck Hagel) when it came to opposing sanctions on Iran. He railed against President George W. Bush and his “axis of evil” because it included the Iranian regime.

Since becoming president, he has tried hard to re-invigorate the bad Iran nuclear deal, a deal that not only gave Iran a date certain to become a nuclear weapons state with impunity but lifted all sanctions on the regime’s ballistic missile programs as well.

Just think how many people in Israel, Ukraine, Yemen, and Iraq – including US soldiers and contractors – have been victims of those missiles since 2015.

One reason the Iranians may have chosen the Niovi, a Panama-fragged tanker, as their latest target was specifically to embarrass the United States. Over the past year, the Treasury Department has sanctioned over one hundred Iranian-owned ships laundered through various owners and reflagged in Panama.

The Panamanian government responded in January by de-flagging 136 Iranian vessels. So hitting a Panamanian registered vessel was pay-back by Iran to Panama, as well as an embarrassment to the U.S.

In the days when America still commanded a 600-ship navy, we would have sailed an aircraft carrier – or even two – through the Strait of Hormuz to put the Iranians on notice.

Not today. We used to have sixteen carrier battle groups; today, we have just eleven carriers still in service. Of those eleven, eight are in dry dock or on extended home port duty in San Diego or Norfolk, VA.

Only two are actively deployed, and both of them are in Asia. (The USS George Washington is off the west coast of Australia, and the USS Nimitz is off Thailand). A third, the USS Ronald Reagan, is idling off the coast of Japan under “Restricted Availability.”

When the United States shows weakness, it creates vulnerability. Weakness invites attack.

There is only two ways to respond to Iranian regime aggression: forceful military action, and by empowering the Iranian pro-democracy movement.

In 1988, after a spate of similar maritime piracy incidents (including the mining of international sea lanes), President Reagan ordered Operation Praying Mantis on April 18, 1988, the fifth anniversary of the Iranian suicide bomber attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

In roughly twenty-four hours, U.S. forces sank one-third of the Iranian navy. Iran didn’t dare attack us again openly until 2004-2005 in Iraq, and even then they initially acted through proxies. (They also acted through proxies – al Qaeda – in attacking U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, the USS Cole in 2000, and the 9/11 attacks in 2001).

Fast forward to New Year’s Eve 2020. Iranian-backed militiamen stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad during the final days of 2019. President Trump responded immediately by redeploying hundreds of U.S. Marines from Kuwait to protect the embassy in Baghdad, to prevent another Benghazi from occurring.

And when he learned that the initial attack on the embassy was just the beginning and that Quds Force commander Qassem Suleymani was flying into Baghdad to supervise the next wave of attacks, President Trump ordered him taken out.

Iran responded by launching a half-dozen missiles on the al-Asad air base in Iraq, after warning the base commander so troops could take cover. And while regime officials including Ayatollah Khamenei have claimed they intend to assassinate President Trump and other U.S. leaders in retaliation, until now they have been unable to do so. To date, Iran has not found a successor with anywhere near the charisma, contacts, and capabilities.

The United States has never taken vigorous action to empower the pro-democracy forces inside Iran. Voice of America and Radio Farda have paid lip service only to anti-regime protests, and Biden administration officials have lashed out at the regime’s cruel repression with diplomatic wet noodles.

I have no expectation the Biden regime will change its approach. But how long will it take for Congress to start demanding an accounting of the administration?

Here’s my suggestion for an opening salvo: what kickbacks did U.S. government officials eventually receive from Iran for the $1.7 billion in cash Obama sent to Tehran in 2016?

Just asking.

Ken Timmerman’s 12th book of non-fiction, And the Rest is History: Tales of Hostages, Arms Dealers, Dirty Tricks, and Spies,  was published by Post Hill Press in August 2022. Timmerman was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 and has covered the Middle East for 40 years.

Not a Conspiracy Theory: Yes, the Government Will Be Coming for Your Gas Stove

Not a Conspiracy Theory: Yes, the Government Will Be Coming for Your Gas Stove

BY RICK MORAN

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/05/04/not-a-conspiracy-theory-yes-the-government-will-be-coming-for-your-gas-stove-n1692571;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Last January, when Consumer Product Safety Commission member Richard Trumka Jr. suggested that the entire U.S. could follow the lead of Berkeley, Calif., and ban the use of gas stoves, conservatives lit into the CPSC and Trumka for even suggesting such a thing.

New York Senator Chuck Schumer called suggestions that the government wanted to end the use of gas stoves in residences a “MAGA conspiracy theory.” “Nobody is taking away your gas stove,” he said.

That may be true. But if you like cooking with gas or heating your house with gas, don’t try to relocate. The chances are good that if you want to move to a blue state in the next couple of years, you’re going to be forced to cook with electricity. That’s because it will soon be all the rage in blue states to ban the installation of gas stoves in all new construction.

The movement to rid the planet of gas stoves got a big boost on Wednesday when the New York legislature passed a bill that would ban gas stoves in new residences starting in 2026.

Why? Gas stoves are powered by natural gas — a fossil fuel. There have also been a couple of studies showing that cooking with gas can give your child asthma. Or something.

Reason.com:

Steve Everley, writing in National Review in January, covered several flaws in the most recent studies finding serious health impacts from gas stoves. Experimental studies that found links between gas stoves and child asthma used airtight rooms without ventilation. The author of another much-touted meta-analysis finding a link between gas stoves and child asthma said their study “does not assume or estimate a causal relationship.” Masses of earlier studies, Everley notes, have found no health impacts from gas stoves.

In the short-term, mandated electrification of appliances is probably worse for the climate. On-site use of gas stoves and furnaces uses almost all the energy in the gas. Generating electricity from gas and then using that electricity to power appliances is much less efficient. Of New York’s 10 largest power plants, for instance, five are powered by natural gas.

Cherry-picking scientific studies to “prove” something is dangerous is dishonest and anti-science. But eco-fads like banning gas stoves wouldn’t be possible without climate hysterics driving the conversation and the media lapping it up like good little puppies.

Does it matter that people actually like their gas stoves?

“Most home chefs—and pretty much all professional chefs—will tell you that electric stoves take a long time to heat up and are far less responsive when changing heat levels. Induction stoves, which are actually quite fast to heat up, require different types of cookware and kitchen thermometers, in addition to being a lot more expensive than electric stoves,” wrote Reason‘s Liz Wolfe earlier this year.

This is a consequence of demonizing fossil fuels. The “devil’s breath” is not a hazard, nor does it contribute measurably to net carbon emissions. In fact, it wasn’t so long ago that greens were demanding the coal-fired plants be repurposed to burn natural gas.

As soon as I buy my “Mr. Fusion,” I’ll give up my gas stove.

1 2 3 8