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Justin Mikulka

Oil and Gas’s Pivot to Blue Hydrogen Is Falling Through

Oil and Gas’s Pivot to Blue Hydrogen Is Falling Through

By Justin Mikulka. Originally published on July 30, 2022 at The Intercept. THE OIL AND GAS industry’s plan to convince the world to switch from natural gas to hydrogen made from natural gas is being upended by an unexpected cause: economics. As the climate emergency has gotten more and

Russia-Ukraine War Is Another Reason to Break Free of Dirty Steel, but U.S. Companies Still Chase Profits Over Green Future

Russia-Ukraine War Is Another Reason to Break Free of Dirty Steel, but U.S. Companies Still Chase Profits Over Green Future

This article originally appeared in the Intercept. THE WAR IN Ukraine has threatened a vital component of the U.S. industrial base: steel production. Over the weekend, reports surfaced that a large steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, had become one of the last holdouts for Ukrainian troops in the besieged

The Infrastructure Bill’s Hydrogen Funding Is a Big Win for the Oil and Gas Industry

The Infrastructure Bill’s Hydrogen Funding Is a Big Win for the Oil and Gas Industry

The infrastructure bill signed into law by President Biden in November includes $9.5 billion dollars to support the creation of a clean hydrogen industry — but much of the money is going to support the U.S. fracked gas industry under the guise of “clean” blue hydrogen. While being presented

Green Hydrogen’s Rapidly Falling Costs Undermine the Gas Industry’s Argument for Blue Hydrogen

Green Hydrogen’s Rapidly Falling Costs Undermine the Gas Industry’s Argument for Blue Hydrogen

By Justin Mikulka on Sep 24, 2021 (originally published at DeSmog) New research predicts that green hydrogen — a clean fuel produced from water using renewables — will be comparable in cost and likely cheaper than blue hydrogen by 2030. This is much sooner than what the blue hydrogen industry is estimating

Bankers Eager to Continue Funding Oil and Gas

Bankers Eager to Continue Funding Oil and Gas

Comments from a recent energy industry conference reveal major financiers of fossil fuels view environmental and social investing concerns as a trend to “inoculate” against but not a long-term threat to the industry.

Fracking’s ‘New Religion’ Offers False Hope

Fracking’s ‘New Religion’ Offers False Hope

After the shale oil and gas industry lost a half trillion dollars in what the Wall Street Journal recently called the “unprofitable American oil boom” and investors started fleeing, the U.S. shale industry is now telling investors that industry consolidation is the answer to its financial troubles — but this

Shale Oil Fraud Case Reveals Executives Ignore Their Own Engineers and Mislead Investors

Shale Oil Fraud Case Reveals Executives Ignore Their Own Engineers and Mislead Investors

In April, a judge ruled that a lawsuit filed by former investors in the shale oil company Alta Mesa could proceed. Their case alleges multiple instances of fraud and reveals that not only did engineers in the company warn executives that they were lying to investors about oil production estimates