Gazprom said it would pump a reduced flow of gas to Europe via Ukraine the day before a transit agreement with Kyiv is set to expire, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The state-controlled energy giant said it would pump 37.2 million cubic meters of gas on Dec. 31, down from 42.4 million cubic meters the previous day, before flows drop to zero at midnight when the five-year transit agreement expires.

The Treasury Department announced sweeping new enforcement measures Wednesday to tighten the screws on Russia, including expanding the use of sanctions to inflict pain on outside entities that continue to do business with Moscow, known as “secondary sanctions.”

When climate activists use the term “environmental justice,” they mean it literally. Rather than legislating and passing laws (as is customary in a constitutional republic), they’ve turned to the courts to fight their quixotic battles.

Pennsylvania is no stranger to litigating climate-related policies.

Despite President Biden’s best efforts, U.S. fossil-fuel production continues to grow, and it’s supporting the economy he touts. That’s one notable finding from the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s recent report on state GDP growth in 2023 that is always instructive about regional and industrial economic trends.

Rarely does a policy change make no sense on its own terms, contradict other policies of the same administration, and harm America’s domestic and foreign interests. But the Biden administration has managed to do all of that with its decision to stonewall approval of new liquefied-natural-gas export terminals.

The White House statement on the decision begins with a high-school-freshman opening sentence (“In every corner of the country and the world, people are suffering the devastating toll of climate change”), and the quality of analysis doesn’t improve from there.

President Biden jolted the energy and climate worlds by pausing liquefied natural gas export approvals, and in doing so stirred up several political and business risks ahead of the 2024 election.

The big picture: The Energy Department announced on Friday it would freeze new permits as officials reassess the climate, energy security and market effects.

Why it matters: The decision has already become part of Trump vs. Biden, the sequel. On Friday, the former president and presumptive GOP nominee released a statement bashing the decision.

A study from Cornell University released last November suggested that LNG is worse for the climate than coal. Little did anyone know at the time that this study would put the U.S. federal government in a dilemma at a time when the country leads the world in LNG exports.

The nature of the dilemma is of the sort that could put a quick end to that leadership. Either that or cost the Democrats some votes from environmentalists.