In Washington, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed H.R. 1346, the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act. Approved by a bipartisan vote of 218 to 203, this historic legislation permanently authorizes the year-round, nationwide sale of E15—a lower-cost fuel blend containing 15 percent ethanol. While E15 is already available at more than 4,800 […]
A man sits in a diner staring out the window at six parked cars. He knows which one probably contains a weapon. He knows the waitress is left-handed. He knows the man at the counter knows how to fight. He knows the exits, the sightlines, the distances, the angles. He knows he can run flat […]
The guns had been firing for two hours when the order finally came. Across the open fields west of Gettysburg, Pickett’s men stepped out from the tree line and began the long walk toward Cemetery Ridge. Nearly a mile under direct fire. The sort of assignment historians later describe as desperate because they already know […]
“Why don’t we ever learn?” Doug Durante recently posed the question directly in a thoughtful essay on America’s enduring vulnerability to global oil shocks. It is a fair question, and a frustrating one. Every generation seems to rediscover the same lesson about oil dependence the hard way — through war, embargo, refinery shutdowns, price spikes, […]
The pallets come in uneven. Not like fuel. Fuel moves clean—measured, continuous, almost abstract. But this is different. Boxes, drums, crates, sealed containers—each with its own handling, its own timing, its own consequence if it doesn’t arrive when it should. LTJG H. H. “Tex” Riley stands on the bridge of the fleet oiler USS Decatur […]
A policymaker walks into a lab and sees a carbon-slimming technology. He’s excited. Less carbon in the sky! “Marvelous,” he says. “If I invest €300 million in this, how much will I lose?” The technologist pauses. “€300 million.” It’s an old joke, slightly updated for the energy transition. But like most good jokes, it lingers […]
Growth in renewable fuels is offering refineries and new entrant producers opportunities with significant potential. Incentivization, mandates and regulations, from the EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation regulations to the US Renewable Fuel Standard developments, are creating an expanding market – and early movers can take full advantage. But the clock is already ticking when it comes to […]
The fire dancer spun a double arc into the night, and for a moment the flame seemed to hang there—bright, suspended, almost permanent. At Mālama ʻĀina, a small luau operation a few miles from the container stacks at Honolulu Harbor, the evening moved with practiced ease. Kalua pork came out of the imu in long, […]
Dawnlight. After days crossing a wide, heat-blown valley, they reached the range—layered, irregular, faintly steaming in the morning air. The Trash Mountains. That’s what they called them at a distance. Up close, it was something else. Layered, irregular—yes—but not random. Structured. Sorted by time, pressure, chemistry. One of them knelt and sifted a handful through […]
The binoculars don’t show speed. They show distance. LTJG H. H. “Tex” Riley stands on the bridge of the fleet oiler USS Decatur and watches the Strait of Hormuz resolve into lines — parallel tracks of steel and intent, moving close enough now that distance is no longer abstract. This native of Plano, Texas is […]
