Brigham McCown

Disruptor & Innovator | DP/FP Futurist | @HudsonInstitute & more | Fmr X-sector CEO @DoD @USDOT #BigLaw #Prof #energy #infra #P3 etc.

[Hudson Institute @HudsonInstitute]

Ukrainian President @ZelenskyyUa sat down with @john_walters_ for a conversation on how Ukraine can secure the front line, defend its civilian population, and ensure a just and lasting peace at the negotiating table.

Watch the full event: https://t.co/1SXzjqlOCf

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

Jeez….

https://t.co/Kg0dCoewXY

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

The #SpeedAct is still a mixed bag.

Yes it curtails some of the most egregious behavior but it’s more accurate to say that the House and Senate bills move litigation around rather than ending it, and that the Senate bill's permit-certainty title may do more for investment certainty than its NEPA title.

Is the remand and fix without vacating more desirable, yes of course but it’s also true the NEPA process is somewhat restored from Loper Bright but with a weakened enforcement arm and leaves open future regulations which either party could restore.

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

@MsLizBowman See this post.

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

The #SpeedAct is still a mixed bag.

Yes it curtails some of the most egregious behavior but it’s more accurate to say that the House and Senate bills move litigation around rather than ending it, and that the Senate bill's permit-certainty title may do more for investment certainty than its NEPA title.

Is the remand and fix without vacating more desirable, yes of course but it’s also true the NEPA process is somewhat restored from Loper Bright but with a weakened enforcement arm.

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

Couldn’t agree more. The #SpeedAct as currently written restores litigation avenues around #NEPA. Not good.

[Liz Bowman @MsLizBowman]

Shortened timelines are great and all - but irrelevant without litigation reform. If projects can be stopped in their tracks by activists in the Courts, the shortest timeline in the world won't fix the problem.

[Hudson Institute @HudsonInstitute]

UPDATE: This event will now air at 12:00 p.m.

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

Quoting @AiiNonProfit

[Utility Dive @UtilityDive]

With utility returns trending downward, Jigar Shah is blaming the wrong target for rising electricity bills, writes Guy Caruso, former administrator for the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

https://t.co/QI1UkhcwAG

[Utility Dive @UtilityDive]

With utility returns trending downward, Jigar Shah is blaming the wrong target for rising electricity bills, writes Guy Caruso, former administrator for the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

https://t.co/QI1UkhcwAG

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

There’s a reference to pipelines in there as well.

[Republicans @Republicans]

President Trump: "My administration is using the Defense Production Act to release $150 million to increase American refining capacity to produce more diesel and more gasoline at record levels."

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

@JamesShinn @WSJ I bought FSD with my 2019 P3D knowing it wasn’t ready yet but thought $2K or whatever was a risk worth taking. I’m running the latest FSD Lite version with the older car and it’s as close to perfect as I’ve ever witnessed.

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

The @WSJ makes the very case they’re trying to dismiss. EVs are not convenient for road trips. I was an early adopter in 2019 and still have one which I’ve driven cross country. Not convenient. Not quick. Around town or day drives, it’s just fine but let’s be realistic. We are 10-20 years away from convenience.

https://t.co/tX25FYGcIh

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

@JavierBlas My question is whether Title 3 authority moves from DOE to DOWn anyone?

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

Ouch… but true.

Airlines should actually do Hungs within their control like making travel easier, nicer, and yes, less expensive.

[Wall Street Journal Opinion @WSJopinion]

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby wants to show customers in seat 34B he feels their pain by endorsing a national wealth tax. Such virtue-signaling is cheaper than complimentary pretzels.
https://t.co/OuSDnu2Pj3

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

Go Caps!
@Capitals

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

And the reason is…. OEMs aren’t listening to consumers on tech, prices, drive trains, and more.

https://t.co/KSun1ZnmlR

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

General Motors’ board approved a $20 billion stock buyback plan, a move to boost a stock price executives view as stubbornly undervalued https://t.co/xETBriA5H7

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

True… Hard to take advice from the administrations responsible for this. A late conversation is, better than none but yes, the damage has been done.

[LC101 @LOUISECICCONE1]

@WSJ We can't build the infrastructure necessary for an AI economy because of permitting and environmental concerns. We shut or idled 40 refineries since 2000. The last major refinery with significant downstream unit capacity built in the Marathon’s facility in Garyville, LA in 1977.

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

Word.

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

Exclusive: Ex-officials from the Trump, Biden and Obama administrations are warning the U.S. is at risk of losing a technological and industrial race with China—unless it adopts a major energy-permitting bill https://t.co/aV51bqNqs4

[⚡️David Blackmon⚡️ @EnergyAbsurdity]

🚨Philadelphia jury delivers major win for ExxonMobil in gasoline-leukemia case

A Philadelphia jury has rejected claims that gasoline and other automotive products caused a man’s leukemia, handing ExxonMobil a clear victory that stands in sharp contrast to a recent $725 million verdict against the company in a similar case that the Superior Court recently upheld on procedural grounds.

Key points from the Oct. 13 verdict in the Leon and Ruth Mazza lawsuit:

◾️Jurors found ExxonMobil’s benzene-containing gasoline was not defectively designed.

◾️The jury concluded the company did not intentionally conceal the dangers of benzene, even while finding the gasoline lacked an adequate benzene warning.

◾️Plaintiffs (represented by the same Locks Law Firm as in the earlier Gill case) argued there is no safe level of benzene exposure and pointed to the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s reclassification of gasoline as carcinogenic to humans; the jury was not persuaded that these products caused Mazza’s leukemia.

◾️Mazza’s alleged exposures came from work at a Wyndmoor Exxon station, a body shop, landscaping businesses (1970–2020), plus personal use of benzene-containing products in his drag-racing hobby; he was diagnosed in 2022.

◾️The result undercuts the narrative from the Gill case, where a juror later blogged about the “best feeling ever” of seeing Exxon lawyers look like they “were going to puke,” and business groups had warned that such nuclear verdicts raise costs for everyone.

This defense win arrives just days after the Superior Court upheld the massive Gill judgment (largely on procedural grounds rather than a deep dive into the disputed science) and amid broader pushback against IARC-driven claims, including federal efforts to limit the agency’s influence.

For ExxonMobil and the industry, it shows that not every benzene-exposure lawsuit ends in a blockbuster plaintiff verdict. Juries can and do reject the “gasoline causes cancer” theory when the evidence doesn’t support it.

[Link to full story in the next post.]

[Brigham McCown @BAMcCown]

Good.

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

Republicans threaten to block $350 billion in Pentagon funding unless Trump takes a tougher stance on Russia

The dispute was triggered by the Trump-Putin deal on diesel imports, as well as restrictions on Ukraine’s use of satellite systems.

Some Republicans are demanding that sanctions against Russia be reinstated and restrictions on Kyiv be lifted, The Hillreports.

Congressman Don Bacon said that unless the administration changes course, Republicans will refuse to support Trump’s legislative agenda for the remainder of the congressional session.