Venezuelan Oil: Statism to Liberation?
By Allen Brooks -- January 6, 2026“Venezuelan oil has been powering Cuba’s electricity grid, and the Trump administration may use the fuel issue to effect changes in the island-nation’s leadership.”
“More heavy oil from Venezuela will put pressure on Canada’s role as a supplier of heavy crude to the U.S. It may also pressure Saudi Arabia, which ships heavy oil to feed its refineries in the U.S.”
“Access to Venezuela’s substantial oil reserves is likely to put a cap on how high global oil prices might rise in the future….”
Little did we realize how interesting 2026’s energy market would become when we finished writing our January 3 Energy Musings, “Energy Finishes 2025 In 8th Place Out Of 11 Sectors.” Just a few hours after finishing and scheduling its publication, United States Special Forces and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, supported by military forces, mounted a military-style campaign to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.…
Continue ReadingEnergy & Environmental News: January 5, 2026
By John Droz, Jr. -- January 5, 2026This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. Droz is also the author of the popular Substack Critically Thinking About Select Societal Issues.
Wind Energy — Offshore:
Trump halts all significant offshore wind projects
Dominion sues over offshore stoppage
Wind Energy — Other:
*** When green energy threatens what it is meant to save
*** The Unreported Story of Grid Scale Battery Fires
*** The Battery Storage Delusion: Utility-Scale Batteries Are No Silver Bullet
The world’s first wind power/pumped storage pilot project is a dismal failure
Nuclear Energy:
SMRs Explained: Real-World Economics, Fuel Bottlenecks, and the Race to Scale
Time to Build Reactors Fueled By Nuclear Waste
Fossil Fuel Energy:
Climate Faithful Admit Need for Fossil Fuels
Trump Puts Coal In National Energy Stocking
Electric Vehicles (EVs):
*** EV school buses criticized by parents over breakdowns, lack of heat
Manmade Global Warming — Some Deceptions:
*** Two Retractions Raise the Question: Is Climate Science Really Settled?…
Thirty Failed Climate Forecasts (optimism please)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 2, 2026
Martin Ecclestone on social media (November 4, 2025) usefully provided a historical review of climate exaggeration. “Educate yourself,” he began. “Uninformed personal opinions don’t change facts.”
Here’s a list [30] of the major climate-change impacts that climate scientists predicted and that have already eventuated (observed and documented in the scientific literature and major assessments). I’ve kept each item short — if you want, I can expand any item with dates, regions, or citations.
1. Global mean surface temperature rise (planet warming).
2. More frequent and/or more intense heatwaves (land).
3. Ocean warming (upper ocean and deep ocean temperature increase).
4. Global sea-level rise (mean sea level increase).
5. Melting of glaciers and mountain ice (glacial retreat).
6. Loss and thinning of Arctic sea ice (decline in extent and volume).
7.…
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