Michael Wara

With Qatar’s Gas Shut Off, Western Energy Giants See a Big Payday

And here they say the true thing. Payday for ExxonMobil and Cheniere.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/b...

Tax cuts for corporations. Healthcare benefits cuts. Tariffs (tax increases for regular people). And now, a war that is going to cost $1B a day. And in the meantime, gas and natural gas prices are going to be a HUGE tax on regular Americans that is directly attributable to this war of choice.

Tax cuts for corporations. Healthcare benefits cuts. Tariffs (tax increases for regular people). And now, a war that is going to cost $1B a day. And in the meantime, gas and natural gas prices are going to be a HUGE tax on regular Americans that is directly attributable to this war of choice.

Prediction: IOC stock buyback programs.

U.S. Gas Prices Continue to Rise

The predictable result of a war of choice. A tax on American consumers and a huge windfall for the US oil and gas industry.

U.S. Gas Prices Continue to Rise www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/b...

U.S. Gas Prices Continue to Rise

The predictable result of a war of choice. A tax on American consumers and a huge windfall for the US oil and gas industry.

U.S. Gas Prices Continue to Rise www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/b...

What if not this is an impeachable offense?

Forget about process and the war powers act. This is not a close call. We are at war.

Democrats need to say this out loud.

President Trump took an oath to uphold the Constitution. That document says,

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11:

[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; . . .

Apologies. I am a subscriber.

I read this and think, that sounds like a job for an isotopic analysis - all the carbonate chemistry that is supposedly going on is going to fractionate C and O with more signal. And also, you could probably do some simple controlled experiments with animals (rats) and learn a lot more.

How economically diverse is your neighborhood? This map ranks places in the Bay Area Are there any places left in the Bay Area where the haves live side-by-side with the have-nots?

What’s missing from this map is the percentage of retirees that can only live in the place they are in because of Prop 13. Would love to see a correction for that.

www.sfchronicle.com/projects/202...

Proposed California home insurance laws would guarantee coverage for fire-safe homes After the deadly 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires, lawmakers have proposed a flurry of insurance-related legislation aimed at providing more transparency and mandating coverage for fire-safe homes.

This is dangerous for the 85% of Californians who don’t live in high wildfire risk areas. www.sfchronicle.com/california-w....

Well worth reading in full.

Key issue isn’t cost, it’s production capacity.

Thanks for sharing that. Reassuring.

(4) I am vehemently opposed to assasinating leaders of sovereign nations, however odious their behavior. Also, who exactly on the other side is supposed to make peace (and why would they) if they are being hunted and killed?

(3) Wars of regime change are always a bad idea. Who governs a sovereign nation is the business of that nations people, however odious their government. What have we learned from Iraq/Afghanistan/Libya/Syria?

(2) The President of the US must actually consult and get the consent of Congress before starting wars. I blame Congressional leadership as much as Trump.

I think it is important as an American to say loudly today that

(1) I am vehemently opposed to wars of choice. We should attack others only when attacked. Anything else is abhorrent. This is not a close case.

My presumption also is that if push comes to shove, we will use interceptors to protect US military assets rather than gulf oil infrastructure. That means that before we really run low, these facilities could become vulnerable.

We should be flying in Ukrainians who know how to cost-effectively shoot down Russian modified Shahad drones without multimillion dollar interceptors (that will soon be in short supply). Too bad we sold Ukraine down the river in the past year. If I were them, I’d drive a hard bargain.

Key point in this article is that the risk is not from disruption in Iran, it is from risk to Saudi and other gulf crude exporter infrastructure and transportation routes. This risk will grow as/if US runs low on interceptors in the next few days. Watch Abqaiq and Kuraihs.

“Since when does briefing a few senators the night count as getting a declaration of war“ Asked the 14yo at breakfast.

I have no answer except to say “good job reading the Constitution kid.”

We should be doing our own soul searching about how we have failed in our roll over many years in educating leaders who sit quietly out of fear that they will compromise returns over the next few years rather than urging our former students to take action. Or at least before we do that.

We’re 23 HBS Professors. This Is the Cost of Silence. | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson We urge business leaders to recognize that there is no conflict between their responsibilities as CEO and their responsibilities as citizens. The cost of silence is incalculable.

I read this and think that institutions like HBS and HLS as well as the GSB and SLS at Stanford need to be doing A LOT more soul searching about how their leadership curricula may have contributed to the acquiescence they are now criticizing.

www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...

Even the most expensive structure level hardening retrofit - IBHS+ - rarely costs more than $70k. The median home price in California is $900k. So you can harden close to 13 houses for each one you retreat from. These numbers are even more outsized in LA. And hardening cost is far less for rebuild.

But in general, "managed retreat" is just not possible in most instances because there just isn't enough money. And I would argue that we can't afford to spend the limited resources we have on super expensive individual retreats when the money could go much further hardening communities to fire.

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Hey all, I am continuing to do unique climate reporting and commentary that you won't find anywhere else. The stories and opinions are determined by me alone. I could use your support to stay in business.

Pointing this out today for no particular reason.

www.climatecoloredgoggles.com/archive

PS Sightline's paper from a few years ago on PNW refineries was a huge inspiration for our teams' (led by Thom Hersbach and Connie Cho) recent oil refinery paper: drive.google.com/file/d/1nN69...

You would have to compensate the property owner from (nonexistent) public funds for the diminishment of the value of the land if they take their insurance payout somewhere else. We just don't have the money for that. Back to my point about the art of the possible.