The Eastern New Mexico News - Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Hard as it might seem to believe, a year after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, nothing has been done to stop the flow of billions of dollars that Russia is making from selling nuclear fuel to the United States. The... — Updated 3/11/2023

We can ignore all the danger signs until America’s adversaries cut off exports of vital minerals and metals and the lights go dim and factories shut down. Or we can try to act with a sense of urgency and do something about... — Updated 1/21/2023

It’s becoming clearer that the United States can follow two possible roads in the fight to achieve a livable environment. One is to shut down the nation’s coal plants, as President Biden advocates, and allow... — Updated 11/26/2022

The electric vehicle revolution is here, and the United States must now make a choice. If we do nothing or not enough to break our dependence on China for battery metals like lithium and nickel, we face an uncertain future leading... — Updated 9/3/2022

The United States is beholden to Russia and China for many of the minerals and metals needed in the shift to green energy. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there should be no doubt that our nation’s reliance on Russia and... — Updated 6/11/2022

There may have been a time when lawmakers could look at the source of a shipment of imported uranium and ignore it.  But that’s ancient history now. Nearly 50 percent of the uranium used at U.S. nuclear power plants is... — Updated 4/19/2022

The biggest problem we face with mining in the United States is we’re not doing enough of it. And that’s because of the continuing absence of a long-term mining policy that recognizes the importance of a secure domestic... — Updated 2/26/2022

Rising inflation and an insecure minerals supply chain are threatening to disrupt the development of green energy technologies and hamper the production of renewables and electric cars. Some energy experts are warning that deeply... — Updated 12/4/2021

Clamp a hefty fee on every mineral mined in the United States? The House Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., is backing a bill that would place new royalties and additional taxes on domestically... — Updated 9/18/2021

Copper is the new "gold." Driven by its use in electric-vehicle batteries, wind turbines and other clean energy technologies, copper has doubled in price in the past year and the Bank of America says it could double again by 2025.... — Updated 5/22/2021

China’s dominance of critical materials used to produce everything from advanced weapons systems to electric vehicles and solar panels is a problem so glaring both the Trump and Biden administrations have singled it out as an... — Updated 3/6/2021

Are renewable sources of energy ready to stand on their own two feet? After billions already spent and substantial subsidies that continue, wind and solar power generated only 9% of U.S. demand in 2019. In contrast, coal and... — Updated 7/11/2020

Set aside the rhetoric on global warming, we are going to have to open the throttle on oil, natural gas and coal production to power our economic recovery. Together they account for 80% of America’s energy supplies. To get our... — Updated 5/23/2020

In the battle against pandemics, one material that could go a long way toward reducing infections and preventing the spread of pathogens has been largely overlooked. It’s so effective that we would be remiss not to make greater... — Updated 4/28/2020

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, deserves to be commended for taking on the growing keep-it-in-the-ground sentiment that’s hampering mining on public lands. As head of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Murkowski... — Updated 1/18/2020

There is no more disputing it: methane emissions are dropping even as oil and gas production continues to surge in America’s top shale basins, including the prolific Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico. Methane is a potent... — Updated 5/11/2019

Last year, virtually all new electricity generation in the United States came from natural gas and renewables like solar and wind. At first glance it appears these energy sources are winning the marketplace, but that’s hardly... — Updated 4/20/2019

The most telling thing about the sharp swings in gasoline prices is that the United States is still beholden to Saudi Arabia despite the shale boom. That reflects the fundamental risk of continuing to rely on gasoline cars.... — Updated 12/15/2018

We’re now getting an idea of just how expensive shutting down coal plants can be. A study by IHS Markit, an energy research firm, shows that higher electricity prices resulting from a loss of fuel diversity, due in large part to... — Updated 10/5/2018

New Mexico prospers on the new and innovative. Oil and natural gas production in shale formations has given us both. Starting about a decade ago, producers began to unlock massive new supplies of oil and gas from shale basins,... — Updated 8/11/2018

Over the past decade, a revolution in the U.S. gas industry has clouded the outlook for coal in the production of electricity. Coal’s share of the nation’s power supply has tumbled from more than 50 percent to 30 percent... — Updated 5/9/2018

Oil and natural gas production is surging in New Mexico and nationally. But there’s a hidden danger lurking in the shadows: divestment. Over the past decade, critics of the petroleum industry have mounted a “keep-it-in-the-grou... — Updated 2/26/2018

There is no overstating the extent to which the United States is quickly becoming over-dependent on one fuel for production of electricity — natural gas. This growing reliance exposes consumers of natural gas and electricity to... — Updated 10/23/2017

To many skeptics, the decline in America’s oil and gas production more than a decade ago — and rising dependence on OPEC imports — demonstrated the energy industry’s shaky future. Fast forward to today. Thanks to the... — Updated 8/13/2017

Low fuel efficiency, high cost, engine corrosion, rising food prices, world famine, prairie grassland losses, and sinking water tables — these are some of the unintended consequences that the government’s ethanol mandate has... — Updated 4/14/2017