Common Sense Energy: Death Taxes, and Biden’s Green New Deal

October 1st, 2021

Late last week, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (within the Department of Commerce) announced it awarded a $2 million grant to the city of Warner Robins, Georgia, to provide natural gas infrastructure improvements. Congressman Austin Scott (R-GA) said the “EDA funds, along with local investment…will spur job creation and economic success for the city, county, and region.” And that, “These natural gas infrastructure improvements will allow our local businesses to expand along with room for new development.”

Natural gas is here to stay and will be picking up a greater share of the market as the country transitions away from coal and towards lower emissions profiles. The increased use of natural gas has already lowered emissions and provided the U.S. with its best air quality in half a century. Natural gas is a stable source of energy that can meet customer demand in almost any weather conditions.

The Bottom Line: Investing in local natural gas infrastructure will create jobs and fuel economic activity for the entire region, allowing businesses to thrive and residents to take advantage of low-cost energy. It’s common sense.

Awarding grants with one hand and collecting taxes with the other, the Biden Administration this week seemed surprised that companies would account for new taxes by raising prices.

A methane tax “fee” like the one being considered with the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill would inevitably be passed down to consumers in the form of higher costs for things like heating a home this winter. Home heating costs are already expected to cause sticker shock for “about half of U.S. households.” And the spike in natural gas prices will impact you “even if you don’t have a gas line to your house.” This is yet another example of the Biden Administration showing just how out of touch they are with the typical American family.

Will the reconciliation bill pass? Will the moderate Democrats in the Senate compromise with Progressives in the House? Will the government shut down? Only time will tell, but right now it’s all a big mess.

The Bottom Line: A methane tax like the one proposed in the reconciliation bill will increase costs for the millions of Americans who use natural gas. So much for Biden’s no new taxes pledge.

Californians are feeling the heat this summer and fall as wind, solar and hydropower are unable to meet the energy needs of the state. The state requested an ‘electric reliability emergency’ be declared for September and October, allowing for more power generation to be drawn from natural gas facilities.

How did it come to this? Drought wreaked havoc on the hydropower producers over the summer and as hydropower capacity fell, the producers turned to wind and solar to make up the difference. Notorious for being expensive and unreliable, wind and solar power couldn’t support the full weight of California’s grid. Ultimately, California’s grid operators turned to natural gas to supply nearly two-thirds of the power for the state throughout the emergency. Now imagine what would’ve happened if natural gas plants weren’t there to bail out the state.

The Bottom Line: A state the size of California will never be able to run on wind and solar power alone. No surprise that, in the face of blackouts and skyrocketing costs, they quickly bumped up natural gas production.

Line 3 Operational: Enbridge announced that work on its Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota is “substantially complete” and oil should begin flowing through the pipeline again starting Friday, October 1.

House Oversight Hearing On Hurricane Ida: On Tuesday, October 5, the House Oversight and Reform Committee will hold a hearing called “Hurricane Ida and Beyond: Readiness, Recovery, and Resilience.”