Breitbart News participated in the first-ever media visit to Netiv HaAsara, an agricultural town that was attacked by Hamas on October 7.
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New Jersey to continue offshore wind push despite top contractor’s withdrawal
Despite the loss of two major offshore wind farm projects when Danish developer Orsted pulled out of New Jersey, the state is moving forward with its plans to support and grow the nascent industry.
The state Board of Public Utilities on Friday voted to seek bids for a transmission facility into which several offshore wind projects can plug, an important part of getting the power from ocean-based wind turbines into the onshore electrical grid.
But on a more elemental level, Friday’s vote represented a vote of confidence in offshore wind from a state that wants to be the East Coast leader in the industry.
DEVELOPERS MAKE PLEDGE TO FINISH NJ’S FIRST OFFSHORE WIND FARM BY 2025
“Recent setbacks will not prevent us from moving forward with our commitment to offshore wind,” said Christine Guhl-Sadovy, the board’s president. “Offshore wind is and continues to be the economic development opportunity of a generation, and remains a key tool in climate change mitigation.”
The board authorized a solicitation of proposals for an energy transmission system. That system would be “an open-access transmission facility, located either in the Atlantic Ocean or onshore, used to facilitate the collection of offshore wind energy or its delivery to the electric transmission system in this state,” according to a 2019 law.
It would include concrete structures and empty pipes through which power cables would pass. They would be installed in a single construction effort, capable of servicing multiple offshore wind farms.
James Ferris, the deputy director of the board’s clean energy division, said that installing the project all at once “would minimize environmental and community impacts by resulting in a single shore crossing.”
Those eligible to apply include power transmission developers and owners, and offshore wind developers, Ferris said.
The board vote came nearly three weeks after Orsted, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, scrapped its Ocean Wind I and II projects off the coast of New Jersey. The company cited inflation, supply chain problems and a failure to secure as many government financial subsidies as it wanted as reasons the projects were no longer feasible.
That sent shock waves through the offshore wind industry. It also heartened its opponents, who said Orsted’s decision to walk away from New Jersey and write off $4 billion in losses, mostly due to the cancellations, shows the industry is inherently unprofitable without massive government subsidies.
Shortly after Orsted scraped its projects, numerous community groups celebrated, and promised to oppose other pending wind farms, including one by Atlantic Shores, a project by EDF/Shell.
4 NEW OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS PLANNED IN NEW JERSEY
“The communities of southern New Jersey are surely celebrating the end of the project,” said Joseph Mancini, mayor of Long Beach Township. “New Jersey can harness sustainable energy solutions more effectively without succumbing to the industrialization of the ocean. There are smarter, more considerate avenues to explore that protect our state’s interests and national natural treasures.”
As the vote was happening, the Southern New Jersey Development Council, a business group, reaffirmed its support for offshore wind projects, calling them “a shining example of responsible environmental stewardship and economic revitalization.”
“Yes, Orsted’s cancellation of the Ocean Wind I and Ocean Wind II projects was a setback, but New Jersey’s continued commitment to offshore wind power is a beacon of hope for a future where renewable energy takes center stage in our fight against climate change, said Marlene Asselta, the group’s president.
Proposals are due by April 3.
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Biden, Mexican president engage in broad discussion
President Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador met as scheduled Friday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
The two leaders had a wide-ranging discussion, including on bilateral commerce, the illicit drug trade, migration and North American economic cooperation.
Biden highlighted unity between the two North American countries, which have the largest country-to-country trade relationship in the world, but also share a complex and politicized border.
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In a moment of levity, Biden joked that first lady Jill Biden was “so captivated” by López Obrador at dinner on Thursday that the U.S. president is “worried she likes you more than she likes me now.”
But the two presidents engaged in serious discussions, particularly on migration and fentanyl, two issues that will affect presidential races in both countries in 2024.
According to senior administration officials, the two also discussed democratic backsliding in Guatemala, where the sitting attorney general is aggressively persecuting allies of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo, due to take office early next year.
“They talked about the concerning signals coming out of Guatemala with efforts to really undermine the ability of President-elect Arévalo to be inaugurated next year due to some of the attacks that the public ministry and the corrupt attorney general of Guatemala has been undertaking to try to subvert the will of the Guatemalan people,” said the official.
They also discussed Venezuela and Cuba, a priority for López Obrador, who has expressed willingness to serve as an intermediary between the U.S. government and the communist island.
The focus on regional and global affairs belies Biden’s need to keep López Obrador as an ally, as Mexico’s collaboration on fentanyl trafficking and migration could make or break Biden’s reelection chances.
López Obrador is not facing reelection, but he has a strong interest in his governing party keeping power in next June’s elections.
While Biden and López Obrador talked about upholding democratic norms in third countries, Biden did not address democratic concerns about Mexico, instead commenting on the need to combat corruption, according to a senior administration official
“Look, on matters internal to Mexico, what I would note is that the Mexican population is having these debates, and has institutions to work through these debates,” said the official.
“The United States has been on the record on the importance of free and fair elections, but the two leaders were talking about the situation in Guatemala as it relates to potential drivers of migration and instability that impact the United States and Mexico.”
Biden and López Obrador also “compared notes” on meetings they each had with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the summit, especially as it relates to the fentanyl trade.
Fentanyl, a hot button political issue in the United States, is a trilateral issue for the United States, Mexico and China, with each country playing a key role in the illicit trade.
The two also discussed regional migration at length.
Though López Obrador has repeatedly said the solution to migration is in addressing root causes, like poverty and violence, Mexico plays a key role in detaining and deporting migrants either expelled from the United States, or who would otherwise head to the United States.
That role is essential for Biden’s political future, as Republicans have weaponized monthly migration figures against the president.
“On migration … there was just a real affirmation that we need to continue working together as partners on the things that we are doing together that are working,” said another administration official.
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Weeks Before Election as Speaker, Johnson Lamented ‘Dark and Depraved’ Culture
Puerto Rico raises alarms as FEMA ends power generation mission
Puerto Rico’s government and private institutions are worried the island’s electric grid could once again collapse, after federal officials announced the end of an emergency power generation mission.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials last month informed Puerto Rico’s reconstruction authority, known as Cor3, that it would cease operations by March 15 of two emergency power generating stations with a 350 megawatt capacity installed on the island.
The announcement puts Puerto Rico in a bind, as officials there are hoping to keep the generators online through the end of the 2024 hurricane season next November.
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“FEMA is trying to remove those generators by March 15, 2024,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D- N.Y.) said. “I feel strongly that FEMA has a humanitarian obligation to keep those temporary generators in place until Puerto Rico has enough permanent power generation to replace them.”
“Removing temporary generators without permanent replacement would constitute an act of cruelty against the people of Puerto Rico,” he added.
Puerto Rican officials are also frustrated that their original request for 700 megawatts was downgraded to 350, and that the project is slated to have about a six month lifespan.
In November of 2022, FEMA officials said they would have 600 or 700 megawatts up and running in two or three months, according to a report from the Associated Press, but the first plant generating 150 megawatts came online in July. The second plant, with 200 megawatts, came online in September, according to FEMA.
The emergency power plants were installed as part of the response to Hurricane Fiona, and play a key role in the reconstruction of the island’s power generation infrastructure.
The FEMA plants are essentially plugging holes in the system while Genera PR — the company that took over generation from state-owned utility PREPA in July — performs repairs on legacy equipment.
“Genera basically said that if they get this additional power until the 2025 hurricane season, they would be able to repair all the units they need to repair by then,”Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi (D) told The Hill in a recent interview. “If they don’t have this generation available, it could delay their work by one year. So that’s the bottom line.”
Earlier this month, Cor3 Executive Director Manuel Laboy-Rivera wrote FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, asking her to extend the mission.
FEMA contends it is bound by law to end the mission, but officials in Puerto Rico say that’s not the case.
“If there is ambiguity in the statute, then FEMA ought to err on the side of preventing a humanitarian crisis and keeping the lights on on the island,” Torres said. “That’s what common sense requires. That’s what humanitarianism requires.”
FEMA officials say they’ve already extended the mission.
“Initially, the demobilization and end date for the temporary generation mission was December 1, 2023,” FEMA spokesperson Dasha Castillo told The Hill in an email. “This date was based on the projected timeline of having temporary generation online at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) Palo Seco and San Juan facilities by July, providing six (6) months of 350 MW of additional baseload power to the Puerto Rico power grid.”
“Since the buildout for the temporary generation at the San Juan facility took longer than expected, FEMA extended the DFA mission to March 15, 2024, to ensure six (6) months of temporary generation is provided,” Castillo added.
She also explained that FEMA and the Puerto Rico government are in discussions for the island’s government to assume control of the plants, rather than having them dismantled.
Puerto Rico’s power generation infrastructure and power grid were aged and unreliable, even before the devastation of Hurricane María in 2017.
“For me, the failure of the electric grid in Puerto Rico is the single greatest infrastructure crisis in the United States,” Torres said. “And for me, there should be no greater infrastructure priority than to provide Puerto Rico with the power that it needs.”
The unreliability of electric power on the island affects the territory’s economy, but also basic humanitarian infrastructure like hospitals and dialysis centers.
Though the island’s electric infrastructure is a top priority, Pierluisi said the March deadline for deactivation allows “a little bit of a cushion” to discuss options.
Pierluisi said the immediate priority regarding FEMA reconstruction efforts nationwide is to get Congress to fund inflation adjustment for the agency’s ongoing reconstruction projects.
“There has been an incredible increase in the cost of construction materials that nobody anticipated and even though in the formula they applied back then in coming up with estimates, there was some inflation factor, it was never — nobody expected the kind of inflation we had,” he said.
“And the problem with this issue is that it can affect the scope of the reconstruction,” the governor continued. “That is ongoing, and I am raising this issue at the top level.”
But advocates for Puerto Rico worry that the island’s humanitarian, infrastructure or reconstruction needs will be received with disinterest by most federal legislators.
“For much of Congress, the humanitarian needs of Puerto Rico seem to be an afterthought rather than a priority,” Torres said.
“There may be nothing that frustrates me more than the double standard against Puerto Rico, the callous and cruel indifference to humanitarian suffering of Puerto Rico, and there’s no greater manifestation of the suffering than the failing energy grid,” he added.
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Biden targeted in crucial swing states over proposed menthol cigarette ban
A conservative nonprofit is gearing up to hit President Biden and vulnerable Democrat lawmakers in crucial swing states over the administration’s proposed menthol cigarette ban, Fox News Digital has learned.
The Liberty Policy Foundation, a new group launched by senior GOP operatives, is set to target the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. The FDA’s director of the Center for Tobacco Products, Brian King, told Fox News Digital in late October they are in the “final step of review for regulatory documents” after making their way to the White House Office of Management and Budget.
As the rule is expected to be finalized in the near future, the Liberty Policy Foundation will aim to educate Americans about Biden’s tobacco and crime policies with the campaign.
“When Americans realize Biden is criminalizing tobacco while the border is open, and heroin injection sites are being decriminalized, they’re going to ask their senators some questions,” a Liberty Policy Foundation spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “This is just the start.”
As part of the effort, the group will send out mailers in key states calling out Biden and vulnerable politicians, such as Democrat Senators Jacky Rosen in Nevada, Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, Jon Tester in Montana and Rep. Elissa Slotkin in Michigan.
The group says its mailer campaign, starting with five figures’ worth of cash in each targeted state, could expand to digital and TV advertisements.
The Liberty Policy Foundation is undertaking the campaign as other groups have also ramped up public awareness of the proposed rule. The New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association has launched a drive to urge candidates to oppose it and began advertising in New Hampshire.
“What has gone up, thanks to Massachusetts’ ban on menthol cigarettes, is the size of the state’s illicit market,” the campaign’s website states. “A recent report by the Massachusetts Illegal Tobacco Task Force found that contraband cigarette seizures skyrocketed from just 5,377 in 2021 to 18,483 in 2022.”
“Illicit crime and the influx of dangerous narcotics go hand-in-hand,” it continues. “New Hampshire is no stranger to the fentanyl crisis. Recently, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Cassidy have been sounding the alarm on the connection between the Mexican cartels at the heart of the fentanyl crisis who are now looking ‘to exploit black market opportunities’ if the federal menthol ban goes into effect.”
Additionally, conservative advocacy group Building Americas Future is launching a six-figure ad buy across multiple 2024 swing states and congressional districts over the proposed menthol cigarette ban.
Meanwhile, the proposed ban has faced heat from its critics. Ex-law enforcement officials previously expressed concerns about it to Fox News Digital, saying it will open up the door to several problems, such as creating a space for Mexican cartels to move in and sell menthol cigarettes on the U.S. black market.
“This is essentially a prohibition, and we know what happens when you remove a current market,” Jorge Colina, former City of Miami chief of police, told Fox News Digital. “That means organized crime and/or cartels move in.”
Colina called it an “unfunded mandate” that will “create a vacuum that is going to be ripe for the Chinese or the Mexicans or the cartels to move in and take advantage of what’s going to be a multi-billion dollar industry.”
And some Black leaders, such as Rev. Al Sharpton, believe it will have unintended consequences for the community.
“What we said is, ‘Y’all have got to consider unintended consequences.’ Imagine some cop pulling a kid over saying, ‘Where did you buy or get that Kool cigarette?’” Sharpton told Politico in April. “People are not going to stop smoking Newports and Kools because of a rule. They’re going to go and get them from people that go to the street in the black market. Then what happens? That’s all I’m asking.”
When the FDA rolled out the proposed rule in April 2022, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the action would protect children and benefit adult smokers.
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“The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” Becerra said. “Additionally, the proposed rules represent an important step to advance health equity by significantly reducing tobacco-related health disparities.”
Proponents of the proposed actions said it could reduce tobacco use and ensure positive health outcomes.
“Once finalized, rules to end the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars rule will be the most significant actions that the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products has taken in its 14-year history,” American Lung Association CEO and President Harold Wimmer said last month. “The American Lung Association is eager for these lifesaving rules to be implemented and urges the White House to finalize these rules before the end of the year.”
“The science and data are clear. Ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars will save lives,” Wimmer continued. “It will also help reduce the unjust disparities in tobacco use caused by the tobacco companies targeting certain communities with menthol cigarettes.”
The NAACP, 100 Black Men of America Inc., U.S. Conference of Mayors and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids have also signaled support for the FDA’s proposal.
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Speaker Mike Johnson Releases January 6 Capitol Security Footage
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) released security footage from the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot to the public on Friday.
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Wildfires in NC, Virginia close sections of Appalachian Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway
Wildfires in Virginia and North Carolina have shut down portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail, according to officials.
A Friday release by the Forest Service in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest and the National Interagency Fire Center’s Southern Area Incident Management Red Team announced a closure of the Blue Ridge Parkway from “from milepost 66.3, near US Highway 501, to milepost 85.9, at VA Route 43 until further notice” in relation to the Matts Creek Fire.
The release on the Matts Creek Fire also said a section of the Appalachian Trail from “from James River Foot Bridge to Petites Gap Road” was closed in relation to the wildfire.
The U.S. Forest Service in North Carolina noted another portion of the trail, “from Interstate 40 to Max Patch,” was being closed in relation to the Black Bear Fire. The announcement was made in a Facebook post Friday.
The Matts Creek Fire and the Black Bear Fire were 2 and 0 percent contained respectively, according to officials. The Matts Creek Fire is significantly larger than the Black Bear Fire, having a coverage of 5,148 acres versus Black Bear’s 1,193 acres.
Shenandoah National Park also said a vehicle fire had spread into the park and caused a closure of the trail.
“The Appalachian Trail is closed from Jarman Gap (mile 98.6) to Rockfish Gap (mile 105) due to wildfire,” Shenandoah National Park posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter on Friday.
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International Atomic Energy Agency: Iran Has Enough 60% Pure Uranium for Three Bombs
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran has now accumulated enough uranium at 60 percent purity to build three nuclear bombs.
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Biden invokes wartime powers to fund electric heaters as he cracks down on gas appliances
President Biden invoked a Cold War-era law in a surprising move Friday to pour taxpayer funds into domestic manufacturing of electric heat pumps, an alternative to gas-powered residential furnaces.
In a joint announcement with the White House, the Department of Energy (DOE) said the federal government would award a “historic” $169 million for nine projects across 15 sites nationwide in an effort to accelerate electric heat pump manufacturing. The significant level of funding was made possible after Biden utilized the 1950 Defense Production Act (DPA) to increase domestic production of green energy technologies.
“Getting more American-made electric heat pumps on the market will help families and businesses save money with efficient heating and cooling technology,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. “These investments will create thousands of high-quality, good-paying manufacturing jobs and strengthen America’s energy supply chain, while creating healthier indoor spaces through home-grown clean energy technologies.”
“Today’s Defense Production Act funds for heat pump manufacturing show that President Biden is treating climate change as the crisis it is,” added John Podesta, the White House clean energy czar. “These awards will grow domestic manufacturing, create good-paying jobs, and boost American competitiveness in industries of the future.”
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And Ali Zaidi, who serves as Biden’s national climate advisor, said the president was “using his wartime emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to turbocharge U.S. manufacturing of clean technologies and strengthen our energy security.”
Under the actions announced Friday, the DOE will send millions of dollars to companies like Copeland, Honeywell International, Mitsubishi Electric and York International Corporation, all of which are billion-dollar multinational corporations. The projects will advance manufacturing of industrial, commercial and residential heat pump technology.
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“This is absolutely shameful corporate welfare. But we’re to believe that, because it’s for the sake of climate change, all is well. I think that’s ridiculous,” Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“Of all the Biden administration’s claimed climate emergency declarations, this may be the craziest of them all,” Lieberman continued. “There is no shortage of heat pumps — it’s just that not every homeowner wants them. Consumers ought to decide for themselves. The government has no role in tilting the balance in favor of one energy source over another. That’s clearly what’s happening here.”
The action Friday comes less than two months after the DOE issued new regulations targeting traditional home gas-powered furnaces as part of its climate agenda and broad effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
DOE’s finalized regulations, which are slated to go into effect in 2028, specifically require furnaces to achieve an annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) of 95%, meaning manufacturers would only be allowed to sell furnaces that convert at least 95% of fuel into heat within six years. The current market standard AFUE for a residential furnace is 80%.
Because of the stringent AFUE requirements, the regulations would largely take non-condensing gas furnaces — which are generally less efficient, but cheaper — off the market. But consumers who replace their non-condensing furnace with a condensing furnace after the rule is implemented face hefty installation costs.
BIDEN ADMIN ISSUES ECO REGULATIONS IMPACTING AIR CONDITIONERS, REFRIGERATORS
“Energy security is a top priority for AGA,” American Gas Association President and CEO Karen Harbert told Fox News Digital on Friday. “We are deeply disappointed to see the Defense Production Act, which is intended as a vital tool for advancing national security against serious outside threats, being used as an instrument to advance a policy agenda contradictory to our nation’s strong energy position.”
“Increased use of natural gas has been responsible for sixty percent of the electrical grid’s CO2 emissions reductions,” she continued. “This vital tool for emissions reductions and energy system resilience should not be unfairly undermined through misuse of the Defense Production Act.”
According to the Congressional Research Service, the DPA, which was passed during the Cold War, gives the president a broad set of authorities to influence domestic industry “in the interest of national defense.” Invoking the law opens the door for the president access to hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding for a given national security-related purpose.
Biden previously invoked the DPA to accelerate domestic critical mineral production and to pause tariffs on Chinese solar panel imports, claiming that climate change is a national emergency.
In addition to consumer furnaces, over the last several months, the DOE has unveiled new standards for a wide variety of other appliances including gas stoves, clothes washers, refrigerators and air conditioners. According to the DOE, its past and planned appliance regulations will save Americans $570 billion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.4 billion metric tons over the next 30 years.
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