The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, landlord of the federal government’s massive ownership of 615 million surface and subsurface acres, mostly in the West, is proposing a major change in focus. The BLM proposal would update its interpretation of the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) to emphasize conservation and protection of … More BLM Moves to Reinvigorate Federal Land Policy

Is the market for electric vehicles, growing gradually but significantly over the last few years, about to boom? The Biden administration, viewing EVs as a key to a lower carbon environment, hopes new public policy will push a step change. The administration’s Environmental Protect Agency, at the direction of the White House, on Wednesday (Apr. … More EVs: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once?

By Henry Sokolski and Andrea Stricker Vladimir Putin seems intent on threatening the West with nuclear war. What’s bizarre is Washington and its allies are helping him. The Russian dictator just proclaimed he may station nuclear bombs in Belarus. The U.S. intelligence community assessed in February that Moscow had “increased its reliance on nuclear weapons” following its … More Guest Commentary: America Helps Fund Russia’s Nuclear Weapons Complex

A federal appeals court has upheld the Biden administration’s plans for updating the official “social cost of greenhouse gases,” more generally known as the “social cost of carbon,” (SCC) rejecting for the second time a challenge led by Louisiana and joined by several Republican states. The states attacked a January 2021 Biden executive order (EO … More Court Upholds Social Cost of Carbon

Fusion energy has recently been a hot topic. Much of the coverage is a combination of hope, technical illiteracy, and fantasy. Given the over 70-year history of fusion hype over fusion reality, some have called it “the fornever fuel.” In January 1958, for example, the British press proclaimed that the domestic “Zeta” fusion experiment meant … More Commentary: Fusion’s Fraught Future

PENNSYLVANIA The largest of the iconic big-iron coal-fired power plants in the iconic coal state of Pennsylvania will shut down by June 2. According to the Pa. Environment Digest Blog, NRG, operator of the Homer City generating plant, told the PJM Interconnection regional transmission organization March 31 it would shutter the three-unit, 1,915-MW plant 50 … More Coal: Ups and Downs for the Former King

The U.S. House last week (Mar. 30), in a barely bipartisan vote, approved a Republican Party goal: major energy and environmental legislation. Its title is “House Resolution 1: Lower Energy Costs Act.” The H.R. 1 denomination indicates its priority on the part of the House Republican leadership. The bill passed by 225-204 (221 Republicans and … More H.R. 1: Good, Bad, Irrelevant?

  By Henry Sokolski Henry Sokolski is executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, a Washington area group advancing “a better understanding of strategic weapons proliferation issues. NPEC educates policymakers, journalists, and university professors about proliferation threats and possible new policies and measures to meet them.” On Tuesday (Mar. 28) The Wall Street Journal’s, “Too … More Guest Commentary: Over-classification: How Bad Is It, What’s the Fix?

The White House plans to issue an ultimatum to Mexico in coming days, designed to force Mexican president Andres Manuel Lόpez Obrador (AMLO) to abandon his plans to return to energy protectionist policies that characterized Mexican oil and power for most of the 20th Century. In an exclusive report, Reuters reported Monday (Mar. 27), “The … More Energy Issues Arise Between U.S., Mexico

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – philosopher, poet, and novelist George Santayana (1863-1952). Looking back at the slow-motion collapse of the U.S. nuclear power industry, which began with cockeyed optimism and ended in finger-pointing recriminations, should offer lessons as global warming provides a compelling rationale for a rebirth. Are … More Commentary: Is Nuclear’s Past Becoming Its Present?