During a week when starved Israeli hostages, resembling Holocaust survivors, were finally returned by Hamas in a macabre ceremony, few people focused on a story involving natural gas. However, in the long term, this could...more
The election of General Joseph Aoun as president of Lebanon ended a two-year stalemate in which the position was vacant, and Lebanon basically had no government at all. The cause of the stalemate was obvious. Hezbollah, the...more
Saturday, February 1, 2025 may go down as the date the great Trade War began. On that date, less than two weeks following his second inauguration, President Donald J. Trump announced 25% tariffs on both Mexico and Canada...more
New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently doubled down on the Empire State’s refusal to allow fracking by signing a bill that would ban the technique outright using carbon dioxide instead of water. The ban extends the...more
1/10/2025
/ Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Fracking ,
Infrastructure ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
New Legislation ,
New York ,
Oil & Gas ,
Renewable Energy ,
State Bans ,
State Legislatures
As I predicted might happen in a previous article, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stopped Russia from exporting oil and natural gas pumped in Russia through pipelines traversing Ukraine to Austria, Hungary and other...more
1/8/2025
/ Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Foreign Policy ,
Military Conflict ,
National Security ,
NATO ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
By a 3-2 vote on November 11, the Board of Supervisors of Cecil Township in Western Pennsylvania increased the setback distance for fracking operations to 2,500 feet from protected structures like residences and businesses,...more
Despite being at war for almost three years, Russia has continued to ship natural gas via pipelines through Ukraine to other countries in Europe. That has kept money flowing to both countries, which helps as they try to kill...more
When he assumes office again on January 20, 2025, newly reelected President Donald J. Trump can make one move regarding energy that not only will facilitate the increased availability of domestic oil and gas production but...more
11/12/2024
/ Clean Water Act ,
Electricity ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
FERC ,
Fracking ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Jurisdiction ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Renewable Energy
As the Ukraine war progresses toward its third winter, Russian President Vladimir Putin finds himself besieged on numerous fronts. During the first 30 months of this conflict, Putin used his vast energy resources to hedge...more
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it lost access to many world markets, including much of Europe. Countries like Germany, which for years had relied on Russian gas and oil, now turned sharply away and sought to...more
One wild card of the Middle East equation has been Hezbollah, the Iranian-inspired Shiite terror group /political party in Lebanon. Considered the most fully armed non-state actor in the world, Hezbollah possesses an arsenal...more
Over 50 years ago, on October 6, 1973, the Arab armies of Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
Almost exactly 50 years later, on October 7, 2023,...more
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a strong, uncompromising pro-Hamas stance in the latter’s military conflict with Israel last week. In so doing, he torpedoed any potential in the near future for possible joint...more
The explosion and fire of a tanker truck just north of Center City Philadelphia, leading to the collapse of sections of Interstate 95, one of the most heavily traveled roads in the United States and the chief highway...more
Last week saw scenes of chaos never before seen in the Middle East, which is saying something given the history of that region.
In Israel, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate, block roads,...more
Now less than one month before Election Day, the New York Governor's race is far closer than most had anticipated. Incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul, who succeeded Andrew Cuomo following his resignation, is being pressed by...more
10/19/2022
/ Boycotts ,
Clean Water Act ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Exports ,
Fracking ,
Gas Prices ,
Natural Gas ,
New York ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Pennsylvania ,
Pipelines ,
Political Campaigns ,
Russia ,
Shale Gas
With energy markets already in tumult partly because of events in Ukraine and Iran, not to mention the OPEC production cut, another area of the world is now being convulsed by energy issues, with the prospect of natural gas...more
10/19/2022
/ Anti-Terrorism Financing ,
Egypt ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Greece ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Israel ,
Lebanon ,
Libya ,
Military Conflict ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Terrorist Organizations ,
Turkey
The best statesmen understand what less worldly and less experienced people often overlook: Wars are mainly political and economic endeavors, and they involve the use of brute force to obtain political and/or economic...more
Over the last two weeks, while news coverage in America has been fixated on the FBI’s raid on Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago, and later on the death of Queen Elizabeth II, there have been important news stories not widely...more
9/12/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
China ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
FERC ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Greece ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Turkey ,
Ukraine ,
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
Less than two years after a catastrophic explosion nearly leveled whole parts of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, plunging the country into economic disrepair and social despair, the Ukraine war and natural gas gave Lebanon a...more
Since the execution of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 that led to the establishment of the Euro single currency, different European Union countries have faced issues meeting the Treaty’s requirements to maintain the currency,...more
7/21/2022
/ Embargo ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
European Central Bank ,
Food Supply ,
Fossil Fuel ,
GDP ,
Germany ,
Greece ,
International Monetary Fund ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
Just north of Philadelphia International Airport and south of the Philadelphia sports Stadium complex lies the Port of Philadelphia, one of the largest freshwater ports in the world. So strategically located is the Port of...more
Two new developments of enormous significance passed under the radar last week, buried by the growing threat of an outright Russia/Ukraine war and governmental encroachment on democracy in Canada. These developments, however,...more
3/14/2022
/ China ,
Climate Change ,
Coal ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
FERC ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
NATO ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Shale Gas ,
Ukraine
Shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, February 23, President Biden reinstated the sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that he had waived only last year. Depending on what side of the political divide you...more
3/14/2022
/ China ,
Climate Change ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Fracking ,
Germany ,
Joe Biden ,
Marcellus Shale ,
NATO ,
Oil & Gas ,
Paris Agreement ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Ukraine
When Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine to go conquer that democracy, all of the abstract concepts about energy ended. While not quite a Pearl Harbor moment in terms of instantaneous ideological shift, Putin's...more
3/14/2022
/ Bad Actors ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Energy Sector ,
Exports ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
Nuclear Weapons ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Russia ,
Ukraine