Worst Climate Stories of the Week—Missing Methane Sniffer Edition
Even a rocket scientist can't sniff out this week's crisis.
This week in global warming saw a story more worthy than normal of snickering and immature reactions. Apparently, we have a methane-sniffing satellite—surely not the butt of any jokes. Not here. No sir. Anyway, an extremist environmental group launched this methane sniffer into space last year to track the terrestrial sources of the gas.
Still not making any jokes. This is a totally super serious story.
According to the New York Times, this satellite had the mission to "measure methane emissions from oil and gas sites worldwide, in a bid to expand our understanding of global warming and what’s driving it. The data from the satellite would give governments and the public fresh insight into where this planet-heating gas was coming from and who was responsible for it."
And now that methane sniffing satellite has lost power. The satellite is probably lost for good, less than a year into its five-year mission.
Evidently the Environmental Defense Fund, a radical environmentalist non-profit, got the money—$88 million—to sniff for methane from Jeff Bezos.
Let's just leave that right there for now.
We have other silliness to get to this week, including several stories about imploding green energy projects, yet another EV manufacturer going kaput, a review of how colleges in the U.S. teach about energy issues, California green policies driving up the price of gas, and the kind of crazy story that could only come from Oregon.
The Good News segment this week has several cool items, including the shockingly low energy levels required for modern economic production, Trump firing yet another climate hysteric from an important federal agency, and CNN's shock that so few Americans care about climate change, despite their incessant decades-long propaganda campaign.
Let's go.
(READ MORE: The End of the Green Panic)
This Week in Imploding Green Energy
Another week chock full of green energy projects dying all around us as federal subsidies dry up and they fail to compete on the open market. To the bullet points!
- On June 30, a wind turbine blade broke free from a truck and blocked I-70 in Maryland during the morning commute. Not a great look for these increasingly humungous turbines and the increasingly difficult transport they require.
- In a Senate hearing on July 9, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said, "We’re witnessing right now a systematic campaign against American energy. There is a coordinated assault by the radical left backed and paid for by the Chinese Communist Party." He then went on to detail how the CCP has parterend with leftist billionaires and radical environmental groups to halt domestic energy production. The proof is clear: The push for "green" energy is not about the environment, it's about destabilizing our nation.
- Energy expert David Blackmon points out that "renewable" energy projects—wind, solar, battery storage—have faced a spike in cancelations in Texas. Another "green" project got the axe this week as an $11 billion transmission line from a Kansas wind farm got canceled.
- Nations in the Western Hemisphere have positioned themselves to ramp up energy production, as Canada, Guyana, Argentina, and Brazil have all indicated they will increase their production of oil and gas to meet skyrocketing market demand.
This Week in Imploding EVs
Another week, another bankrupt EV company—this time, it's an electric motorcycle company.
And I'm Never Going Back To My Old School
The National Center for Energy Analytics produced a report this week that surveyed the top 50 U.S. universities and graded how they educate students on energy issues.
You'll want to sit down for the surprising results.
America's colleges overwhelmingly teach about energy in their economics and policy curricula from the standpoint of climate, not the current energy marketplace that runs the world. Of the over 1,400 courses they analyzed, 71 percent had a "climate-focused learning objective," while 29 percent did not use a climate perspective. By far, the most prevalent topic was renewable energy, with fossil fuels not even making the list.
California's Gas Prices Necessarily Go Up
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama famously said, "Under my plan, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." He meant that forming a plan to "fight climate change" would require Americans to consume less energy, and the best way to do that was to spike the price to force (mostly poor) people to cut back.
The state of California has taken that not as a warning, but as a road map. According to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) this week, California's planned closure of two refineries later this year will cause gas prices on the West Coast to rise by 17 percent. That's on top of average gas prices about 50 percent higher than the national average.
Oregon Comes Up With A Very Oregon Solution to Oregon's Failing Wind Farms
Oregon has always been an early adopter of every crazy green scheme on the horizon. They started installing wind farms almost two decades ago. Unfortunately, maintenance issues have piled up, causing equipment failures—including a turbine blade that flew off in the middle of the night a few years ago. The maintenance costs have continued to grow, causing Portland General Electric (PGE) to have to get creative in how they address the loss of production.
Instead of changing out old turbines at one massive wind farm, PGE decided it would be easier and cheaper to add solar and battery storage:
It’s unclear whether that approach, coupled with the solar proposal, will benefit PGE customers who have faced skyrocketing rate increases in recent years. They still need to repay $413 million for Biglow’s wind farm, which cost $1 billion to build. If the solar and storage project moves forward, the utility also would seek to recoup those yet-to-be-determined costs from ratepayers.
PGE’s solar plans come as a growing number of Oregon’s wind farms – the state’s second largest renewable energy source after hydropower, accounting for 15% of Oregon’s electricity generation – are showing signs of age.
The increased costs and reduced energy production mean that lease payments to land owners have decreased by as much as a third to a half.
Now for this week's Good News.
Modern Technology for the Energy Win
The CATO Institute reports the incredible growth in energy efficiency we've seen in economic production since 1950:
Technological innovation and market incentives have made the US economy far more energy efficient.
— Human Progress (@HumanProgress) July 10, 2025
In 1950, it took over 13,000 BTU to produce a real (inflation-adjusted) dollar of GDP.
In 2024, that had fallen to around 4,000, a 70% reduction. pic.twitter.com/S5hRexmEv1
Trump to Nuclear Chief: You're Fired!
A month after signing a series of executive orders aimed at quadrupling America's nuclear power output, President Trump fired Christopher Hanson as chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A White House spokesman said, "All organizations are more effective when leaders are rowing in the same direction. President Trump reserves the right to remove employees within his own Executive Branch who exert his executive authority." Hanson has threatened to sue, indicating Trump made the right call.
CNN Bemoans CNN's Bad Propaganda
Harry Enten, the "Chief Data Analyst" for CNN, reported a poll that showed only 40 percent of Americans are afraid of climate change—and he expressed alarm that it was the same number as a 2000 poll.
Enten represents a new paradigm in cable news shows, acting in a role as important as the talking heads who gravely intone the day's headlines. Going without a tie, and often rolling up his sleeves to indicate he's a serious data guy, he projects a specific, self-aware image of an expert who's far more concerned about running the numbers than having a perfectly tailored suit—sort of LARPing as a college professor type for CNN's audience. As data and analytics grow and exert more influence over many aspects of our public lives, these kinds of play-actors have increased in popularity in news, sports, and entertainment broadcasts.
His biggest takeaway from the survey? He cites without evidence the non-existent "increase" in violent storms and wildfires since 2000, and worries gravely that Americans buy the hype at the same paltry rate they did 25 years ago.
Climate activists have failed to make the case on climate change.
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) July 10, 2025
Despite all the bad weather, just 40% of Americans are greatly worried about climate change. The same as in 2000.
The % who worry about being a natural disaster victim has dropped from 38% in 2006 to 32% now. pic.twitter.com/7aZ58BPtxX
The good news? Nobody is buying what CNN or the climate hysterics are selling anymore.
(READ MORE: New Film 'Blown Away' Wrecks the Myth of Wind Power)
