April 7th, 2023

• American natural gas is the world’s cleanest, most affordable, and most reliable energy. America’s energy independence and national security depends on it.
• Why Ford can afford to lose billions on EVs.
• The Dennis Quaid documentary ‘Grid Down, Power Up’ explores the dangers of sudden electric grid failure.
• Mountain Valley Pipeline hits another snag in approval process.
• City of Beacon one of the first in New York to ban fossil fuels.
• Check out this video that illustrates the importance of natural gas and oil in our everyday lives.

Oil prices surge after OPEC+ producers announced surprise cuts on Monday.

Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry described its latest reduction as a precautionary measure aimed at supporting the stability of the oil markets, according to news agency SPA. The White House pushed back on that notion — as well as the latest cuts by OPEC+.

“We don’t think cuts are advisable at this moment given market uncertainty — and we’ve made that clear,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said. “We’re focused on prices for American consumers, not barrels.”

Well, if you’re truly focused on prices for American consumers, heed the advice of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA).

His Tweet says it best: “Let’s be clear: We wouldn’t have to worry about OPEC’s cut of a million barrels a day hiking gas prices if we were producing more American energy. [President] Biden and [Senator] Schumer need to quit making America dependent on Russia and OPEC for oil and pass HR 1 — the Lower Energy Costs Act — NOW.”

Here is the latest scenario:

• OPEC+ announced an oil production cut.
• The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at historic lows. President Biden may go for another release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The emergency stockpile was created in the 1970s after the Arab oil embargo.
• It holds about 371 million barrels, according to Energy Department data, around half the SPR’s capacity, largely due to a historic release of 180 million barrels last year to slow surging gasoline prices.

Biden will block efforts to boost U.S. oil production including opening more pipelines, the safest way to transport energy. He’s already doubling down on wind and solar, which we know are unreliable. Yet he continues to push for Chinese solar, wind, and batteries over clean, reliable and affordable American energy sources.
In the meantime, get ready for more pain at the pump.

In October, OPEC+’s decision to cut production rankled the White House. President Biden pledged at the time that Saudi Arabia would suffer “consequences.” But so far, his administration appears to have backed off on its promise to punish the Middle East kingdom. He’d rather punish U.S. energy companies who provide reliable energy and support thousands of jobs.

America has centuries of natural gas, oil, and coal. For its size, America is the cleanest and most environmentally conscious country in the world. We can and must be energy independent.

Bottom Line: Stop curbing U.S. energy production and stop relying on foreign oil. Unleash domestic natural gas and oil production and OPEC’s leverage will be erased.

The House voted to pass a measure to lower America’s energy costs last week. It passed in a heavily partisan vote.

Unfortunately, too many Democrats (other than the four who voted for the Republican-proposed Lower Energy Costs Act last week) did not support it. They don’t care about your energy affordability — and apparently American lives and livelihoods don’t matter to them.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., introduced several amendments aimed at making the energy package more climate-friendly, but none were adopted for debate. Thus, he became the only Republican to vote against the legislation last Thursday.

Why was he the lone GOP House member to vote against this package?

For starters, Fitzpatrick supports a carbon tax, which most in the GOP oppose. One amendment would have imposed a tax on carbon emissions from fossil fuel companies and other industries. Others would strike provisions that would repeal programs created by Democrats’ landmark climate law, falsely labeled the Inflation Reduction Act.

To his credit, however, Rep. Fitzpatrick is a supporter of renewable natural gas (RNG). He and Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-California) introduced a bill that, if passed, would provide a $1 per gallon tax credit for dispensers of renewable natural gas used for commercial trucks and other motor vehicles for 10 years.

The Renewable Natural Gas Incentive Act of 2023 (H.R. 2448) updates legislation (H.R. 9396) introduced in the 117th Congress in 2022. It was created to encourage commercial truck and transit fleets to convert their vehicles from diesel to zero-emission equivalent RNG, or biomethane.

TEA supports this RNG legislation as an investment by taxpayers that would benefit America both economically and environmentally. Lower energy costs aren’t a partisan issue — or shouldn’t be — since it impacts all Americans, in every state.

But, Americans are struggling to afford some of the highest energy prices in decades right now. President Biden’s rush-to-green policies have led to skyrocketing prices across the board. This is not a path we can afford to continue going down, and the Lower Energy Costs Act addresses just that.

• More than one-third of U.S. households say they reduced or skipped basic expenses, such as medicine or food, to pay an energy bill in 2022.
• The cost for an average household has risen approximately $10,000 in the two years since President Biden took office.

A quartet of Democrats in the House voted in favor of the bill. We applaud the courage of Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, Rep. Henry Cuellar, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Rep. Jared Golden to buck their party line and show common sense on this critical issue.

Obviously, they are in favor of unleashing American energy and restoring our nation’s energy independence. More like minds are needed on Capitol Hill in both parties.

Bottom Line: Legislators who oppose H.R. 1 are against seniors, small businesses and millions of working families struggling against the high cost of energy, fuel and everyday bills.

As featured in common sense, the surprise OPEC production cuts are driving up prices for American consumers at the pump. The national average for a gallon of gas is up 8 cents from last week, now at $3.58. This is the highest price for gas since Thanksgiving of 2022 and analysts project that the average could rise as high as $3.65 in the coming weeks.

Meeting On Cold Weather Grid Operations: On Tuesday, April 11, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation will hold a drafting team meeting on “cold weather grid operations, preparedness, and coordination.”

“Democrats want to cripple the American energy industry by adopting the Green New Deal while giving the green light to China and Russia to produce all the energy in the world. Here are the facts: U.S. energy production is the CLEANEST globally. U.S. energy dominance is vital for national security.”

— Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL), on Twitter.