Weather Report #5: New Fortress Energy Sells Jamaican Business & A Polemic About Ghibli, AI, and Fascism

Before I get into this week's update and the news/media recommendations, just a heads up on some changes I've made to the newsletter.

First, I took "publishes every Thursday" off the Weather Reports tab on the website because I have realized it's just not possible for me to be that consistent given my current workload. The target publishing day is now "at some point in the latter half of the week." I'm going to aim for Friday most times, but sometimes these will be come out on the weekend.

Second, free newsletter posts will now have an emailwall on them if people who are not subscribed want to read them. In the age of fractured news environments and social media rot, I think it's important to be able to reach people directly where they're at and in this case it's their inbox. However, these posts will remain free because I think it's important to me that people have access to new reporting and because they function as marketing to get people to sign up for the paid posts. If you get these as an email, don't worry. Nothing will change for you.

Third, if you are one of the 30 people that subscribe to this newsletter, thank you very much! I appreciate you and hope you have a great Sunday!

Onto what's on this week's docket:

1. New Fortress Energy sells their business in Jamaica, which could mean one of two things for Puerto Rico's LNG future.
2. A small polemic on Studio Ghibli, fascism, and AI.
3. An essay about thinking beyond the "constitutional crisis" if the Left wants to win against the current fascist moment, and another about McCarthyism and the Trump-Musk administration's use of fear as a political tactic. And a reported story about the Pacific Drug Highway.
4. a novel that's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail but in a post-apocalyptic zombie future.
5. An EP for softboys

New Fortress Energy Sells Business in Jamaica, Leaving Two Possible Futures for its Business in Puerto Rico

Last Wednesday, New Fortress Energy (NFE) announced it was selling its business in Jamaica to Excelerate Energy for $1.055 billion, according to a press release and an SEC filing announcing the sale. The sale was not super surprising given that last year the company announced they had started identifying strategic partners for possible financing, commercial ventures, or asset sales of its primary businesses. (I was one of the first journalists to report the news).

As I see it – the sale presents two very different options for the company's future in Puerto Rico: (1) NFE sells its business in Puerto Rico just like it did with Jamaica's because they need the money or (2) NFE doubles down on hooking the archipelago on LNG with the help of a very pro-fossil fuel government because it's a lifeline.

Option 1 presents an easy out for a cash-strapped business that is spiraling towards bankruptcy. Credit rating agencies have downgraded NFE's credit rating "deep into 'junk' bond territory over the past several months and they have taken on additional indebtedness to pay off loans, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. The money from the Jamaica sale will no doubt be used, at least in part, to pay off these loans and other loans related to its FLNG2 facility.

Meanwhile, option 2 presents steady cash flow for the company for years to come if they can keep the lights on. The Puerto Rico government recently announced a $110 million upfront payment to NFE in exchange for eliminating possible bonuses in the future and they signed a one-year extension of their gas supply contract with Puerto Rico's power company. It also recently signed a 20-year deal with Energiza, which is building the archipelago's first new power plant since 1995.

NFE's owner considers Puerto Rico to be "perhaps the biggest gas to power opportunity in the world," which can be a very effective marketing slogan to pump the numbers for a sale or the driving factor in NFE attaching itself even more parasitically to Puerto Rico. Although I have exactly zero insider knowledge, both options seem possible from where I sit. And I would be extremely surprised if conversations around being had about the two possibilities inside the company.

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