Daily Caller
LNG Farce Sums Up Four Years Of Ridiculous Biden Energy Policy
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By David Blackmon
That is what happens when “science” isn’t science at all and energy reality is ignored in favor of the prevailing narratives of the political left.
As Congress struggled with yet another chaotic episode of negotiations over another catastrophic continuing resolution, all I could think was how wonderful it would be for everyone if they just shut the government down and brought an end to the Biden administration and its incredibly braindead and destructive energy-policy farce a month early.
What a blessing it would be for the country if President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were forced to stop “throwing gold bars off the Titanic” 30 days ahead of schedule. What a merry Christmas we could have if we never had to hear silly talking points based on pseudoscience from the likes of Biden’s climate policy adviser John Podesta or Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm or Biden himself (read, as always, from his ever-present TelePrompTer) again!
What a shame it has been that the rest of us have been forced to take such unserious people seriously for the last four years solely because they had assumed power over the rest of us. As Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead spent decades singing: “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”
Speaking of Granholm, she put the perfect coda to this administration’s seemingly endless series of policy scams this week by playing cynical political games with what was advertised as a serious study. It was ostensibly a study so vitally important that it mandated the suspension of permitting for one of the country’s great growth industries while we breathlessly awaited its publication for most of a year.
That, of course, was the Department of Energy’s (DOE) study related to the economic and environmental impacts of continued growth of the U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) export industry. We were told in January by both Granholm and Biden that the need to conduct this study was so urgent, that it was entirely necessary to suspend permitting for new LNG export infrastructure until it was completed.
The grand plan was transparent: implement the “pause” based on a highly suspect LNG emissions draft study by researchers at Cornell University, and then publish an impactful DOE study that could be used by a President Kamala Harris to implement a permanent ban on new export facilities. It no doubt seemed foolproof at the Biden White House, but schemes like this never turn out to be anywhere near that.
First, the scientific basis for implementing the pause to begin with fell apart when the authors of the draft Cornell study were forced to radically lower their emissions estimates in the final product published in September.
And then, the DOE study findings turned out to be a mixed bag proving no real danger in allowing the industry to resume its growth path.
Faced with a completed study whose findings essentially amount to a big bag of nothing, Granholm decided she could not simply publish it and let it stand on its own merits. Instead, someone at DOE decided it would be a great idea to leak a three-page letter to the New York Times 24 hours before publication of the study in an obvious attempt to punch up the findings.
The problem with Granholm’s letter was, as the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board put it Thursday, “the study’s facts are at war with her conclusions.” After ticking off a list of ways in which Granholm’s letter exaggerates and misleads about the study’s actual findings, the Journal’s editorial added, “Our sources say the Biden National Security Council and career officials at Energy’s National Laboratories disagree with Ms. Granholm’s conclusions.”
There can be little doubt that this reality would have held little sway in a Kamala Harris presidency. Granholm’s and Podesta’s talking points would have almost certainly resulted in making the permitting “pause” a permanent feature of U.S. energy policy. That is what happens when “science” isn’t science at all and energy reality is ignored in favor of the prevailing narratives of the political left.
What a blessing it would have been to put an end to this form of policy madness a month ahead of time. January 20 surely cannot come soon enough.
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.
Under the agreement, New York-based Pfizer will charge most-favored-nation pricing to Medicaid and guarantee that pricing on newly launched drugs, Trump said. That involves matching the lowest price offered in other developed nations.
In a landmark announcement, President Trump revealed a deal with Pfizer that slashes drug prices for Americans on Medicaid on a massive scale.
Under this agreement, Pfizer will offer its medications to Medicaid at “most favored nation’s prices.”
Under the agreement, New York-based Pfizer will charge most-favored-nation pricing to Medicaid and guarantee that pricing on newly launched drugs, Trump said. That involves matching the lowest price offered in other developed nations.
“It’s going to have a huge impact on bringing Medicaid costs down like nothing else,” the president said.
“I can’t tell you how big this is,” he added.
The conference opened with Trump telling Pfizer CEO to his face that he is “surprised” he is agreeing to massive price cuts to his company’s drugs.
Albert Bourla smiled and stood silently as Trump announced devastating news for his company’s profits in America.
RFK Jr. heaped praise on President Trump for several minutes after he struck a deal that other politicians said was impossible.
Kennedy called it something “Democrats have wanted for 20 years, Republicans have wanted for 20 years,” but said no president had ever been able to make it happen until Trump pushed drug companies to the table.
“All we could see was all the reasons this couldn’t happen. Everybody tried. Nobody could make it happen. And it was President Trump alone who, with his doggedness and persistence, saw this clearly in a way that none of us [did],” Kennedy said.
“I can’t think of any other president in the United States that could have done this in our history.”
Dr. Oz couldn’t hide how proud he is to work for the White House — calling it a “cool place to work” after Trump did the impossible in a “historic” deal that forced pharmaceutical giants to stop ripping Americans off on drug prices.
He said the team had been working “24/7 nonstop with industry, with Albert [Bourla], with his great team at Pfizer” to get them to sell prescription drugs to Medicaid at the lowest global rate.
“We’re going to finally deliver on the fair drug prices that President Trump has been speaking about for two terms. We’re going to celebrate this historic day. I predict this historic day [will have a positive impact] in the medical field for generations to come,” Dr. Oz declared.
When Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla got his chance to speak, he revealed that President Trump made four specific requests to lower drug prices in America — and Pfizer’s deal today meets ALL of them.
Bourla admitted America was in an “unfair situation” while “other rich nations refused to pay their fair share for the medical innovation.”
That’s changing. Under the new agreement, Medicaid sale prices will drop significantly. Meanwhile, other countries that have long paid rock-bottom prices will see modest increases.
The big winner in this deal, Bourla said, was “the American patient.”
“Who else is a winner here?” he asked. “It is American innovation and American economy.”
Trump suggested that the breakthrough on drug prices could also translate to lowering health insurance.
In terms of real-world results, Trump called it “massive.” He explained how a drug that sells for $137 in America will drop to just $15 to $18.
In other countries, the same drug is sold for only $10, and they will now have to raise the price slightly.
But America is no longer footing the bill, so the rest of the world can get cheap drugs. And finally — in a move once thought impossible — Americans on Medicaid will be paying a fair price.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Hailey Gomez
The partially taxpayer-funded Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California’s Mojave Desert is set to shut down in 2026 due to inefficiency in generating solar energy, according to the New York Post.
The $2.2 billion plant, which features three 459-foot towers, was greenlit in 2010 and completed in 2014. According to the New York Post the closure stems from the site being “outpaced by solar photovoltaic technology” and proving both inefficient and costly. The shutter of the site comes more than a decade ahead of its original 2039 end date, according to the Associated Press.
Speculation about Ivanpah’s early closure began in January, when Pacific Gas & Electric announced an agreement with the plant’s owners to terminate its contracts.
“Ivanpah Solar was built when developers were investing in many different types of clean energy. The goal was to find efficient and affordable technologies to reduce the need for greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels,” PG&E wrote in a January press statement.
“The technology had worked on a smaller scale in Europe. Spain had several concentrating solar projects of up to 20 megawatts. In the 2000s and 2010s, various private companies invested in large-scale concentrating solar power in the United States. But over time, solar photovoltaic technology raced ahead of its rival in affordability,” the press statement continued.
Funds for the massive plant partially came from former President Barack Obama’s Department of Energy, which in 2011 issued $1.6 billion in three federal loan guarantees under former Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. At the 2014 opening, Moniz touted federal support for the project, calling it “a shining example” of America’s leadership in solar energy.
“The Ivanpah project is a shining example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy,” said Secretary Moniz, as reported by PBS. “As the President made clear in the State of the Union, we must continue to move toward a cleaner energy economy, and this project shows that building a clean energy economy creates jobs, curbs greenhouse gas emissions, and fosters American innovation.”
In recent years, California has faced mounting problems with solar energy and refineries. In August 2024, major rooftop solar company SunPower filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware after struggling with issues like California’s rooftop solar subsidy programs and high interest rates.
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