| It was another busy week at Energy Realism with the stories continuing to pour in. Jude Clemente starts us off by looking at five holes in the Biden administration’s energy-climate agenda. It can only be described as an obsession with expensive, less reliable renewables and electric cars that nobody wants to buy. Such energy unrealism could lead to a huge public backlash against these technologies, which are surely growing but will remain supplemental, not alternative, for a very long time. Mark Green also knows the dangers of President Biden’s energy plan: blocking oil production here at home recently had him asking OPEC and Russia to produce more to lower our own prices. The Biden administration’s plan to hold its first ever oil and natural gas lease sales this year is a positive sign after it paused new leasing on federal lands and waters for nearly seven months. The question is how long it will take. The assumption, of course, is that only renewables and electric cars are advancing. But, Paul Steidler reports on how quickly the U.S. oil and gas industry is evolving, constantly becoming cleaner and more efficient – progress that the anti-energy crowd never lets known. For example, the push against natural gas used in homes, in favor of electricity (which is usually supplied by natural gas anyways), is a regressive one because of much higher costs. Duggan Flanakin examines the case of Spokane, Washington, one of the most progressive and “climate-conscious” cities in the country. Even in Spokane, residents are fighting back. They have crafted an initiative and obtained well over the legal minimum number of citizen signatures in an effort to bar the city council from imposing bans on the use of gas or hydropower without express consent of the governed. Making even less sense, President Biden and Speaker Pelosi have actually been advancing policies that could make it harder to domestically mine the minerals required in the very same energy transition that they demand. RealClearEnergy gives us an exclusive interview with Rich Nolan, CEO of the National Mining Association. The question: The energy transition is sending mineral demand soaring but will the U.S. rise to the occasion to meet it? We simply must because China is increasingly controlling the global supply chains. In fact, David Holt recognizes China as the obvious “climate problem,” even though our “environmental groups” have been afraid to speak up. Ponder this: A new tally of global cities’ emissions finds that the top 25 are responsible for 52% of the planet’s urban greenhouse gas emissions. Twenty-three of those are in China, just another example of how U.S. climate policy is becoming increasingly less significant. In the News Bhakti Mirchandani, Forbes Andrew Stuttaford, National Review Yahoo Finance Tilak K. Doshi, South China Morning Post Douglas Coupland, The Guardian Star Local Media Yemi Osinbajo, Foreign Affairs Lucian Bebchuk, Roberto Tallarita, The Wall Street Journal Jeff Cox, CNBC Bloomberg Mark Gilbert, Bloomberg Jacobin Magazine Amy Stillman, Yahoo Finance Jessica Hamlin, Institutional Investor Somini Sengupta, The New York Times Today Crews are trying desperately to reach people still trapped in the wake of Ida’s path of destruction in Louisiana. More than a million people may have their power restored for days or... CNBC Television Kristina Partsinevelos joins Squawk on the Street to discuss ESG-conscious investing and company net-zero targets. She investigates what net-zero pledges from companies actually mean... Prime Quadrant The increasing focus on ESG issues had made the need for reliable measurement of ESG data sets more pressing. Hear Mike Quinn, and Louise Pitt Brindle's take on this misconception. CNBC By 2020, for the first time in 70 years, the US is predicted to become a net energy exporter. Most of this progress can be attributed to the combination of two technologies known as ... | 