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AP News Summary at 3:22 p.m. ESTLeveraging AI to enhance ESG reporting in West Africa’s energy sectorThe Titan: A Closer Look At The Famous Cessna 404
They’ve had enough. A movement in a myriad of rural counties across deep blue states such as Illinois and California to split off and form new states appears to be gaining some steam in the wake of the Nov. 5 election . Conservative residents of the rural regions are taking note of their peers fleeing to lower-taxed and less-regulated red states but they are ready to stay put — pining for a divorce with the urban sectors of their state. A group dubbed the New Illinois State has drafted a new constitution and championed plans to “Leave Illinois Without Moving.” On Election Day, seven rural counties in Illinois voted to contemplate splitting off from the state. “There’s a lot of people in Chicago, and I think that they make a lot of decisions that affect people downstate,” Phil Gioja, from Iroquois County, told the Wall Street Journal . “It’s just sending a message that, ‘Hey, you know, there’s people that would like to be part of the conversation, and often aren’t.’” In Iroquois County, about 73% of voters backed the idea of banding together with other counties in Illinois, except Cook County, which encompasses Chicago and forming a new state. Chicago is home to about 40% of Illinois’ population. While Gioja doesn’t anticipate a separation soon, some backers of a rural divorce think that an opening will come. “We always believed that our best opportunity to negotiate our way out of Illinois was when Illinois was approaching that financial cliff — it’s been on a path toward it for years,” G.H. Merritt, who chairs New Illinois State told the outlet. Out in California, a similar movement has taken root as well. The New California State organization hopes to splinter off the counties outside the Bay Area, Sacramento and Los Angeles. “I’m so flipping excited,” Paul Preston, who founded New California State, told the Wall Street Journal. Preston bashed the Golden State to the outlet as a “one-party communist state, and technically, they have seceded from the Union already.” But his and other like-minded movements face an uphill battle. To win statehood, they would need the green light from state legislatures — difficult to lock down from the states where they’d like to splinter off. Hawaii was the last state formally added to the US. There have been efforts by Puerto Rico and Washington DC to attain statehood, but none of them have garnered much steam. Following the Nov. 5 election, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has visited red counties and told voters: “Message received.” “I don’t care who you voted for. I care about Trump supporters, I care about Robert Kennedy Jr supporters, I care about Tucker Carlson supporters, I care about Charlie Kirk supporters, I care about Ben Shapiro supporters, I care about all people,” Newsom said during one of his stops. Out in Oregon, the Greater Idaho movement is hoping to reconfigure state lines so that rural counties past the Cascade mountain range can join their conservative-run neighbor Idaho. “The State of Oregon has said we’re not going to talk about it and are basically holding people in Eastern Oregon captive against our wishes,” Matt McCaw, executive director of Greater Idaho, told the outlet. A similar movement had taken place in three Maryland counties — Garrett, Allegany and Washington — which asked to join West Virginia and got support from Gov. Jim Justice (R) back in 2021. None of those counties have moved over. The urban-rural divide has long had ripple effects in domestic politics. President-elect Donald Trump enjoyed a major advantage over Vice President Kamala Harris in rural areas. Trump, 78, also managed to chip away at the Democrats’ long-held grip on urban centers, dramatically reducing the margins in traditionally blue states relative to the 2020 election. Throughout his campaign, the 45th and soon-to-be 47th president assailed liberal-run cities, claiming that they were overtaxed, rife with crime and falling apart.Gift guide: Ideas for the movie lover
As President-elect Donald Trump outlines his priorities for the new administration – falling back on his old habit of announcing major policy initiatives and plans through social media – governments, think tanks and politicians have begun recalibrating their expectations for the next four years. His latest views on tariffs on the US’s three largest trading partners were shared on social media platform Truth Social. Policy action by the world’s most powerful nation has ramifications worldwide, and it will require other nations to brace for impending changes as the new government takes charge in January. While presidential polls in the world’s most powerful nation always have major implications with respect to global geopolitics and trade, few have been as crucial as the one this month. The latest results come against a highly turbulent backdrop of challenges and upheavals at home and abroad. What was widely expected to be one of the closest elections in recent history instead turned out to be an overwhelming victory for Trump, making an extraordinary comeback following his election loss in 2020. With the US presidency and Senate races called in favor of Trump and Republicans, and the party maintaining its majority in the House of Representatives – the new administration will hold full control over Congress. Trump is likely to implement universal tariffs on imports to encourage domestic production, along with incentives for reshoring key industries back to the US. He will most likely reduce the corporate tax rate to 15%, extend individual tax cuts, and eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits. At the same time, he is almost certain to push for a "big bang" of deregulation, which will decrease the regulatory burden and costs for corporate America. On the balance, while tariffs will ultimately be inflationary, tax cuts and deregulation will be deflationary, and it's hard to predict which factors will prevail in the end. On the geopolitical front, Trump will exert maximum pressure on Iran in order to prevent the country from developing a nuclear bomb. His policy may end up reducing Iran's crude export by up to 1.5 million bpd. Currently, China takes up more than 80% of Iranian crude export, which means that Trump's maximum pressure policy will need China's support to succeed. Trump may use the threat of 60% increase in tariffs on China's import as a negotiation tool to gain China's support. President-elect Trump has long-supported energy independence, and his return to the White House signals a shift toward deregulation, faster permitting and an end to the Biden administration's LNG pause –which has helped tighten global balances in the medium term. Trump has vowed to reverse the pause when he takes office. This would benefit developers with pending projects, but the feasibility of fast-tracking these developments remains uncertain and could worsen the supply glut in the medium term. Trump's push for growing LNG exports could clash with trade tensions, as the reintroduction of tariffs could lead to reduced demand from China. This would have negative consequences, as US LNG projects rely on securing consistent demand from China. Despite these risks, the Trump administration could still bring major benefits to the US energy sector. By rolling back regulatory barriers and fast-tracking permits, Trump could help ease infrastructure bottlenecks and support long-term US LNG export growth. Additionally, his policies would likely foster a more favorable environment for operators, improving market sentiment and encouraging further capital inflow into energy projects. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) faces potential challenges under a Republican-controlled Congress, particularly its low-carbon energy provisions. However, immediate repeal of key tax credits such as CCUS (45Q), clean energy manufacturing and decarbonization (45X, 48C), technology-neutral clean electricity (48E, 45Y) and clean hydrogen (45V) is unlikely. These programs enjoy bipartisan support and disproportionately benefit Republican-led states. While speculation about the withdrawal of these credits remains premature, the 30D electric vehicle consumer credit is more vulnerable to repeal. A Republican-led economy may prioritize supply-demand cost dynamics, favoring lower-cost production pathways and fostering demand growth, which may ultimately support clean technology developments. The narrative around global warming might be sidelined in government communications, as seen during Trump’s administration, shifting the focus to job creation and economic growth as primary drivers of cleantech advancement. State-level policies are expected to diverge from federal communications, with coastal states maintaining their clean energy agendas. Nationally, the US may adopt a more oppositional stance on climate-focused initiatives. Overall drilling and completion activity is set to decline by roughly 1% in 2025. With no call on US production and a firming of the gas market in 2025, activity growth in gas basins will offset stagnant to moderately declining activity in oil basins. Efficiency gains across drilling and well stimulation operations also contribute to the negative activity revisions from a rig and frac fleet demand perspective. Barring any immediate short-term change to a call on US oil production, it is difficult to formulate a thesis that would reverse the oilfield service trend in 2025 due to the incoming Trump administration. Trade actions and tariffs on products such as Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) and carbon steel plate material, widely used for pressure vessels in oil and gas facilities, could immediately impact operators' costs. Should Trump implement these measures after re-taking the White House, costs to operators would likely increase in these categories, which could impact activity further against a softer oil commodity backdrop. By