CB 10 HOSTS FREE SHREDDING/RAIN BARREL EVENT BY LYNN GERBINO
Our next meeting
Community Board 10 and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection cohosted
a free shredding/rain barrel event on Saturday, March 30 at Zoodohos Peghe
(Above, l-r) Matt Cruz, CB 10 district manager and USA Shred’s Michael James and
Chris Rakowski helped residents shred sensitive materials.
Photo by Fernando Justiniano
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A BTR PRIL 5-11, 2019 77
Action
Association
will be held on Tuesday,
April 30, at 7:30 p.m. at
the Villa Barone Manor.
Our guest speaker will
be Councilman Mark
Gjonaj who will be providing
information on
the proposed Ferry for
Ferry Point. Our members
who live in Ferry
Point are particularly
interested on what plans
are in the works.
If you have not paid
your dues as yet; dues
are due. Please send a
$15 check to Throggs
Neck Homeowners Association,
P.O. Box 25,
Throggs Neck Station,
Bronx, New York 10465.
We can’t do this without
your continued support.
Thank you.
I would like to thank
my executive board for
all of the hard work they
do,and especially for
stepping up when I was
under the weather for
our last meeting. Thank
you all. I missed the presentation
by the MTA
Bridges and Tunnels, but
I am told it was a good
presentation on what to
expect with the upcoming
projects affecting
our two bridges.
Thank you Joyce Mulvaney
and all the bridge
engineers who participated.
If you need us, please
call us (718) 823-0327 or
message us on our Facebook
page and I will get
back to you. Our Facebook
page has up to date
on community happenings...
check it out.
Have a great week.
See you at the next
meeting. Be there or be
square.,
BY FRANK V. VERNUCCIO, JR.
Despite the ubiquitous, always
on media cycle, one of
the most important news stories
of the past half-century
has been barely discussed:
America’s stunning rise from
energy dependence to its new
role as a net exporter of that
vital commodity.
As 2018 drew to a close, the
United States exported more
oil than it imported for the
fi rst time in seven decades. Investors.
com headlined the concept
appropriately: “Trump
just achieved what every president
since Nixon had promised:
energy independence.”
Last September, The Energy
Information Administration
noted “The United States
likely surpassed Russia and
Saudi Arabia to become the
world’s largest crude oil producer
earlier this year, based
on preliminary estimates in
EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook.
In February, U.S. crude
oil production exceeded that
of Saudi Arabia for the fi rst
time in more than two decades.
In June and August,
the United States surpassed
Russia in crude oil production
for the fi rst time since February
1999.”
In terms of global supply,
U.S. oil production rose at the
fastest pace in history. It was
the largest one-year increase
in oil production that the
world has ever seen.
It’s not just oil.
On March 14, the EIA reported
that U.S. natural gas
production hit a new record
high in 2018, growing by 10
billion cubic feet per day in
2018, an 11% increase from
2017. The growth was the largest
annual increase in production
on record, reaching
a record high for the second
consecutive year. U.S. natural
gas production measured as
gross withdrawals averaged
101.3 Bcf/d in 2018, the highest
volume on record. U.S. natural
gas production measured
as marketed production and
dry natural gas production
also reached record highs at
89.6 Bcf/d and 83.4 Bcf/d, respectively.
2017 marked the fi rst time
in 60 years the U.S. exported
more natural gas than it imported.
Energy independence was
a key campaign theme for
Donald Trump during his
presidential campaign.
A Forbes review outlined
what steps the Trump Administration
took to bring
about the change. They included:
Auctioning off 77 million
acres in the Gulf of Mexico
for oil and gas drilling;
Directing the Environmental
Protection Agency to rescind
the Clean Power Plan; Ordering
the Treasury Department
to “eliminate barriers to the
fi nancing of highly effi cient
overseas coal energy plants”;
and, Approving the Keystone
XL and Dakota Access pipelines.
Reuters noted that “President
Donald Trump’s administration
has sought to expand
energy production on public
lands, which stagnated during
a multi-year surge in output
on private lands, by rolling
back federal environmental
protections such as methane
emissions curbs, expanding
lease sales, and trimming royalty
rates.”
The dramatic change has
signifi cant foreign policy implications.
On March 12, an
exuberant Secretary of State
Michael R. Pompeo stated:
“Now, recent history
should remind us all that
we’re not just producing energy
for Americans…In August
of last year, the United
States surpassed Russia as the
world’s top producer. When it
comes to global supply, U.S.
oil production rose at the fastest
pace in history, the largest
one-year increase in oil
production that the world has
ever seen…I’m confi dent that
the American system – leaving
the commanding heights
in the hands of private risktakers
– will allow that industry
to continue to grow and export
as well…
“Our plentiful oil supplies
allow us to help our friends secure
diversity for their energy
resources. We don’t want our
European allies hooked on
Russian gas through the NordStream
II project any more
than we ourselves want to depend
on Venezuela for our oil
supplies.
“This need, this desperate
need for diversifi cation is
why we exported more crude
oil last year to countries all
across the globe. Places as diverse
as India, Japan, China,
the Republic of Korea, Italy,
Ireland, the United Arab
Emirates. The list is long. It’s
why, shortly before the United
States made its fi rst LNG shipment
to Europe, it made it to a
place that people don’t think
about, the country of Portugal
that now has access to American
energy resources…
“Last April, we formalized
a commitment to bolster Vietnam’s
energy security. In October,
the State Department
hosted its fi rst dialogue with
Australia on energy security.
And these operations, these
opportunities will just be the
beginning.
“But truth is, here’s my
point: We’re not just exporting
American energy, we’re exporting
our commercial value
system to our friends and to
our partners. The more we
can spread the United States
model of free enterprise, of the
rule of law, of diversity and
stability, of transparency and
transactions, the more successful
the United States will
be and the more successful
and secure the American people
will be.
“Our model matters now,
frankly, more than ever in an
era of great power rivalry and
competition where some nations
are using their energy
for malign ends, and not to promote
prosperity in the way we
do here in the West. They don’t
have the values of freedom and
liberty, of the rule of law that
we do, and they’re using their
energy to destroy ours.
“Take China, just for starters.
China’s illegal islandbuilding
in international waterways
isn’t simply a security
matter.
“By blocking development
in the South China Sea
through coercive means,
China prevents ASEAN members
from accessing more
than $2.5 trillion in recoverable
energy reserves. To contrast,
the United States Government
promotes energy
security for those Southeast
Asian nations. We want countries
in the region to have access
to their own energy. We
want to help them. We want to
create partnerships. We want
transparent transactions, not
debt traps…
“And we all know the story
in Russia. It invaded Ukraine
to gain access to oil and gas
reserves. It in turn deprived
Ukraine of the possibility of
developing those resources for
itself and using its pipelines
and its networks to bring energy
to its own people. Rather,
it uses those pipelines to put
pressure – political pressure –
on the people of Ukraine.
“The story isn’t too terribly
different in Syria. Assad
covets the oil fi elds to the east
of the Euphrates River in the
eastern part of the country.
He wants those resources, he
wants those wealth to continue
to impoverish the people
of Syria, and use those resources
for himself and the
cronies who are around him.
“Perhaps there’s no clearer
example than in Iran. Iran
uses its energy exports to exert
undue infl uence all across
the Middle East, most particularly
today on Iraq. While the
United States is working to
develop an independent, sovereign
Iraq, Iran is using its
energy to create a vassal state.
We have worked hard over the
past months to reduce the fl ow
of Iranian crude oil around the
world, to convince the Iranian
leadership to protect its citizens
and deliver to its citizens
what it is they’re asking for,
and to reduce the risk of terror
and instability throughout
the Middle East.
“There could not be more of
a contrast about how America
uses its energy resources than
how the leaders of the Islamic
Republic of Iran use theirs.
“And fi nally, as we see in
the headlines today, Cuba
props up Venezuela’s Maduro
regime. That’s because Venezuela
ships 50,000-some-odd
barrels of oil today at a subsidized
price to Cuba, providing
roughly 30 percent of its overall
energy needs.”
Church.