The Grid Crisis is a Certainty

The U.S. electricity grid is undeniably in crisis. As rolling blackouts over Christmas demonstrated, no corner of the country is immune. Regions that were supposed to be safe from power shortfalls found themselves unable to keep the lights on. Tens-of-millions of other ratepayers got the unexpected present of emergency alerts asking them to dial back […]

We Are Creating Our Own Electricity Crisis

Via DC Journal: There’s growing alarm that the top-down push for America to transition to renewable energy is surgically dismantling our existing electrical grid and its capacity to provide reliable power when needed. Blackouts in California and Texas weren’t anomalies. As one energy regulator warned, there should have been a national wakeup call for a system […]

A Year in Review

The year is coming to a close, but before we look forward to 2023 it’s worth looking back on the stories and themes that shaped the energy conversation in 2022 and coal’s role in it. An ongoing global energy crisis continues to upend markets and trade flows. Coal – so often the recipient of premature […]

American Manufacturers Warn Against Coal Retirements

U.S. natural gas prices have tripled in a year, and promises of its abundance are now being replaced by growing concerns of scarcity as demand outpaces interstate pipeline capacity. Supply chokepoints and regional price premiums are emerging across the country and it’s a problem poised to get far worse as more essential coal generating capacity […]

Sailing into the Dark Doldrums

Europe’s energy crisis is finally getting its first real test. Winter has arrived and despite full gas inventories and aggressive action to slash energy demand, there’s a palpable sense across the continent that the lights staying on will come down to the weather. As Bloomberg’s commodities columnist, Javier Blas, recently observed, “The problem is, energy […]

The Grid Reliability Crisis Keeps Getting Worse

The nation’s electricity grid regulators at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) must be exasperated. The reliability of the grid is rapidly eroding, driven to the edge by a mismanaged and haphazard energy transition, and they’re doing their best to urgently warn anyone who will listen that the nation desperately needs a policy reset […]

Possible rail strike could send shockwaves through energy industry

Via The Hill: A strike by U.S. railroad workers could have dramatic impacts on energy delivery, with industry groups warning of logistical snarls and price increases for consumers. The potential strike — which Congress and President Biden are scrambling to avert — would predominantly affect commodities that can’t be transported by pipelines, such as coal and ethanol.  […]

A Vote for Realistic Energy Policy

Last week, we covered President Biden’s speech made in California in which he boasted that “we’re going to be shutting these (coal) plants down all across America.” The comment was remarkable in its apparent disregard for the loss of high-paying American jobs such a move would cause, the seeming indifference to the record electricity prices […]

A costly energy crunch is coming to the US this winter

Via The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Americans know that inflation has hit hard. Food prices alone are up 10% this year. And energy costs are now a key problem — thanks to OPEC and Russia manipulating oil prices even as natural gas prices surge. To put it bluntly, the news isn’t good. Americans are going to […]