A Free-Market Energy Blog

Skipping the Rules: Offshore Wind’s Legal Issue

By -- June 11, 2025

“The law remains clear: the Department of the Interior must ensure that offshore projects prevent unreasonable interference before approval — not simply allow harm and hope payouts will quiet objections.”

With offshore wind, a lethal tort issue lurks beneath the waves: Is it enough to pay off harmed ocean users after the fact, or does the law demand the government prevent harm in the first place? Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), a clear answer is being dangerously overlooked.

OCSLA, originally passed in 1953 and amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, governs energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Section 8(p)(4)(I) imposes a specific duty on the Department of the Interior: before approving offshore activities like wind development, the Secretary must ensure the project “provides for the prevention of interference with reasonable uses” of the ocean — including fishing, recreation, and navigation.…

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Sunnova Declares Bankruptcy

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 10, 2025

“Profuse government grants, loans, and tax breaks supported Sunnova from the beginning. The public needs to know where the money went and why founder/CEO John Berger and a few others at the top made out like bandits, while just about everyone else bit the dust.”

Sunnova was all hat, no cattle. All sizzle, no steak. Long on DEI, short on profits. Long on government, short on consumer value.

And a lot of “Net Zero” for investors. And potentially voided contracts for more than 400,000 rooftop customers if tax credits go away under current legislation under debate. [1]

Yesterday, Sunnova International declared bankruptcy, or in their Enronish PR world, “Strategic Action to Facilitate Value-Maximizing Sale Process.”

The company never had a quarterly profit, existing on political fumes and gullible “green” customers.…

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Energy & Environmental Review: June 9, 2025

By -- June 9, 2025

This 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.

Greed Energy Economics:
*** How the House cut off new solar and wind subsidies in the “Big Beautiful Bill”
Leading Florida power provider blasts solar/wind subsidies

Unreliables (General):
*** Short good video: America in the Dark
*** The Physics Behind the Spanish Blackout
Reliance on ‘Renewables’ Makes Widespread Blackout Nightmare More Likely
Global Tally of Alternative-Energy Rejections Passes 1,000
15 Hidden Hazards of Green Energy that Get Ignored

Wind Energy — Offshore:
Showdown looms for Empire Wind (NY Offshore)
Ruling that could doom its Irish Sea wind projects

Wind Energy — Other:
*** New Study: “The presented research rejects the typically held view that wind power is a sustainable energy source.”…

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Texas Renewable Cronyism Continues (Sheridan summary)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 6, 2025
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Sea Level Rise: Less Alarmism?

By Kennedy Maize -- June 5, 2025
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Sunnova EVP’s Exit: Self-adulation Within a Taxpayer Bubble

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 4, 2025
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Why Regulate Electricity? Two Exchanges (Giberson, Borlick)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 3, 2025
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Carbon Management Demotion (“Big Oil’s” failed political bet)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- June 2, 2025
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Joe Romm’s Repeated Deceit On Enron

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 30, 2025
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Exposing Alaska’s Green New Deal (Part II)

By -- May 29, 2025
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