Shale Gas And Nuclear Set To Power The US Into The Future

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

Shale natural gas played the lion’s share of the role in lowering U.S. emissions to levels not seen since the early 1990s by enabling power generation companies to displace coal-fired power plants with combined cycle gas plants. This led to a situation during the first Donald Trump presidency in which the U.S. was the only western country which had met its commitments under the Paris Climate Accords, even though President Trump had ended America’s participation in that compact.

While countries like Canada, the UK, Australia, and those in the European Union continue their obsession with intermittent power sources like wind and solar, the United States has been blessed with one powerful alternative for cutting emissions and is set to go full speed in pursuit of another in the coming days.

That first alternative is natural gas produced from the major U.S. shale plays. As the Statistical Review of World Energy reported last year, no energy source in world history has ever been scaled up as rapidly as the domestic US industry has achieved with shale gas.

Shale has grown faster than wind, faster than solar, and faster than even Indonesian coal. Faster than anything before it in recorded history. This rapid scaling, combined with the immensity of the recoverable resource itself has facilitated massive reductions in carbon emissions not just at home, but also abroad.

At home, shale natural gas played the lion’s share of the role in lowering U.S. emissions to levels not seen since the early 1990s by enabling power generation companies to displace coal-fired power plants with combined cycle gas plants. This led to a situation during the first Donald Trump presidency in which the U.S. was the only western country which had met its commitments under the Paris Climate Accords, even though President Trump had ended America’s participation in that compact.

Internationally, the rapid expansion of the U.S. liquefied natural gas export industry is now helping enable importing countries across the globe to meet their own commitments. The immensity of the American resource ensures such results can continue to be achieved for decades to come.

The second power source related to which America is poised for explosive growth is a long-existing one that has been woefully underutilized for decades now: Nuclear. The Deseret News reports that the White House is preparing a set of four executive orders for the President’s signature in the coming days designed to jump start American dominance in this crucial energy sector.

“We are trying to knock things over that we can that are regulatory,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the House Appropriations Committee in a May 7 hearing and reported by Energy Intelligence. “There will be catalyzing regulatory events to bring” in “tens of billions of dollars” in private capital, “mostly from hyperscalers.”

Respected energy analyst and writer Robert Bryce was able to obtain a draft of one of the orders this week. Writing in his Substack newsletter, Bryce says the draft order “begins by pointing out that the US is losing the race to deploy new reactors and that China has announced plans to: ‘Bring 200 new gigawatts of nuclear power online by 2035, at which point its total nuclear output will more than double that of the United States. Further, as American development of new reactor designs has waned, 87% of nuclear reactors installed worldwide since 2017 are based on Russian and Chinese designs. These trends cannot continue. Swift and decisive action is required to jump-start America’s nuclear renaissance and ensure our national and economic security by increasing fuel availability, enabling research and development, and preparing our workforce.”

Obviously, jump-starting a fairly moribund industry is a stretch goal for the Trump administration, especially considering that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has permitted just 5 new nuclear plants since 1978, only two of which were ultimately built and placed into service. But the reality facing the U.S. and the rest of the international community is that, if getting to net zero by any year in the future is truly an imperative, there is little other choice but to focus on a rapid, massive nuclear expansion. Intermittent, weather-dependent generation simply cannot get that job done.

Fortunately, it’s a reality that Trump and key advisors like Sec. Wright fully grasp. In a keynote speech delivered in Poland last month, Wright said, “The two biggest ‘climate solutions’ in the coming decades are the same as they were in the last two decades, natural gas and nuclear, for the simple reason that they work.”

He isn’t wrong, and the Trump administration is focused on ensuring the U.S. maximizes the benefits from both of these key energy engines both at home and abroad.

David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.

Related Topics:#DailyCaller #DavidBlackmon #USEnergyPolicy USNuclearPower USShaleGas

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Joe Biden Diagnosed With ‘Aggressive’ Prostate Cancer

Published on May 19, 2025

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By Jason Cohen

Former President Joe Biden received a diagnosis of prostate cancer on Friday, according to a Sunday announcement by his personal office.

The statement characterizes the cancer Biden has as “a more aggressive form of the disease” that has metastasized to the bone, but the statement adds that it can be effectively managed. The diagnosis follows renewed scrutiny on Biden’s physical and mental decline, along with its cover-up, ahead of the release of a book on the subject titled “Original Sin” by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson.

“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” the statement reads. “While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”

A Gleason score of nine indicates high-grade cancer, meaning that the tumor is more likely to spread aggressively, according to Mount Sinai. A lower Gleason score would indicate that the cancer does not grow as quickly and is less likely to spread elsewhere.

Since leaving office in January, Biden has delivered one major public speech and participated in interviews with “The View” and BBC. In his May 8 appearance on “The View,” he denied reports that he experienced cognitive decline during his presidency.

After Biden’s son Beau passed away from brain cancer in 2015, he decided not to run for president in 2016 before running again and securing the White House in 2020. Excerpts from “Original Sin” and other revelations about the Biden presidency indicate that the former president was in declining physical and mental condition throughout his term, and that the extent of his decline was no longer deniable after his poor performance in the June 2024 debate against President Donald Trump.

Trump issued a statement on Truth Social shortly after news of Biden’s diagnosis broke on Sunday.

“Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis,” Trump wrote. “We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”

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Top Trump Military Official Takes Aim At Absurd Bloat In Navy

Published on May 17, 2025

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Wallace White

U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan took aim at the rampant waste in the Navy during a Wednesday posture hearing with the House Appropriations Committee.

Phelan and acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby laid out the Navy’s bloated acquisitions contracting system and inefficient workforce, which employs 56,000 people but only processes two contracts a month per employee on average. Phelan, a former Wall Street executive, stressed his mission is to cut waste and utilize his unorthodox background to promote efficiency in keeping America’s Navy ready to fight and win wars.

Phelan said the Navy processed a total of 217,000 contracts in 2024, with an average employee processing 34 in total.

“I’ll also be honest, when I look at our contracting, it’s poor,” Phelan said during the hearing. “We don’t control our [intellectual property]. We can’t repair stuff. We don’t have very good penalties built in for lack of performance. These are all things we are going to really try to change.”

Phelan already slashed a slew of Navy programs in April in the name of cost savings, worth a grand total of $568 million, according to DefenseScoop. In the hearing, he expressed interest in shrinking the overall workforce while maintaining vital employees.

The secretary also pledged to have the Navy pass a financial audit, even as the Pentagon failed its seventh consecutive audit in 2024. The Defense Department’s budget is set to balloon to over $1 trillion in 2026 as the various branches of the armed forces jockey for funding.

“Accountability is not just a regulatory requirement. It is the bedrock upon which we will build a stronger, more efficient Navy and Marine Corps,” Phelan said in the hearing. “Under my leadership, the Department of the Navy will achieve a clean audit, following the example set by the Marine Corps, which has completed two consecutive unmodified audits.”

While the Navy struggles with overspending and a bloated contract system, it is also struggling to put ships in the water at a time when China is being aggressive in the Pacific Ocean.

The Navy has struggled to maintain its existing ships, while new ships have been plagued by massive delays, with some contractors extending their deadlines for ship delivery by up to three years. China maintains the upper hand in military shipbuilding, surpassing the U.S. Navy’s total ship count in 2020 with 360 ships compared to just 296 in the U.S. fleets, according to a January Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

Phelan and Kilby aim to shift the Navy’s focus towards shipbuilding to fulfill President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for increased ship production.

“I will lead this department with three focus areas that will guide our Navy and Marine Corps: strengthen shipbuilding and the maritime industrial base, foster an adaptive, accountable, and innovative warfighter culture, improve the health, welfare, and training of our people,” Phelan said during the briefing.