Once in a while, we get a little good news on the energy front. And if it angers some greenie nuts, so much the better. 

This time it's North Sea oil. The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has approved the controversial North Sea Rosebank oil and gas field for development in a move that will solve some of Europe's energy woes.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) said consent has been given by the oil and gas regulator to owners Equinor and Ithaca Energy, following the acceptance of the Environmental Statement.

Environmental campaigners including Greta Thunberg had voiced strong opposition to the development.

The Rosebank field, which lies north-west of Shetland and contains up to 350 million barrels of oil, is currently one of the largest untapped discoveries in UK waters.

An NSTA spokesperson said: "We have today approved the Rosebank Field Development Plan which allows the owners to proceed with their project.

"The FDP is awarded in accordance with our published guidance and taking net zero considerations into account throughout the project’s lifecycle.”

Rosebank could produce 69,000 barrels of oil per day, about 8% of the UK’s projected daily output between 2026 and 2030, and could also produce 44 million cubic feet of gas every day, according to Equinor.

The UK government welcomed the decision and said it has been subject to extensive scrutiny by the regulators, including undergoing a detailed environmental impact assessment process and a period of public consultation before approval was granted.

That's a significant amount of energy, not to mention the many by-products of extracting and refining petroleum.

The usual suspects were, of course, angered by the move, including Sweden's own Pippi Longspeiling:

#StopRosebank pic.twitter.com/qeC4Mt1DiR

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 28, 2023

While the Doom Pixie freely expounds on a topic she knows little about, the development is getting underway. The project will not only bring a new supply of oil and gas online, but it will also provide many good-paying jobs, which is something about which the environmental extremists care nothing about.

Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said: “We are investing in our world-leading renewable energy but, as the independent Climate Change Committee recognise, we will need oil and gas as part of that mix on the path to net zero and so it makes sense to use our own supplies from North Sea fields such as Rosebank.

“The jobs and billions of pounds this is worth to our economy will enable us to have greater energy independence, making us more secure against tyrants like (Vladimir) Putin.

“We will continue to back the UK’s oil and gas industry to underpin our energy security, grow our economy and help us deliver the transition to cheaper, cleaner energy.”

The amount of sheer lunacy around this issue is getting out of hand. My colleague Bob Hoge informs us that a plurality of French citizens, in one survey, favor a lifetime limit on airline flights (to which my reply is "Faites une longue promenade sur une courte jetée") while another RedStater, Brad Slager, informed us recently about the massive non-Green cost of EV batteries. But for a really great angle on how these green policies can impact the most mundane everyday chores, see Manic Contrarian's piece on gas v. battery-powered suburban landscape care.

The "environmentalist" left, of course, cares nothing for the lives of ordinary people, especially not us crazy rural people who actually live out in the environment and depend on oil to heat the house and propane to cook with. But then, most of us have trucks or SUVs and own guns, too, which makes us even more unacceptable in those circles. Don't let that ease your mind, though; you can live in a city or a suburb, and they care nothing about you and yours, either. In fact, they'd rather you weren't around at all.

Here's the funny thing: If you made a Venn diagram with two circles, one labeled "environmental activists" and the other being "people who hate Russian dictator Vladimir Putin," there would be a not-inconsiderable overlap. But the development of North Sea oil and gas reduces Europe's dependence on Russian energy. That weakens Putin. Isn't that a good thing?

Now, in any case, the Rosebank development will go ahead. Men will be hired, construction on rigs will be underway, and in time the UK will have a new source of not only energy but thousands of industrial precursors for everything from plastics to pharmaceuticals - those things, too, come from petroleum.

Once in a while, in a world going nuts, a little sanity seeps in. This is one of those times.

This seems appropriate.