March 17th, 2023

• American natural gas is the world’s most affordable, reliable, safe, green, and clean energy. America’s energy independence and national security depends on it.
• On this day in 1949, the hydraulic fracturing process was first used. Happy World Energy Shale Day!
• Editorial: Posturing trumps good policy in Eugene’s natural-gas ban.
• Michael Bloomberg’s private jets burned 328,000 gallons of jet fuel last year.
• Opinion: Japan right, Kerry wrong on financing natural gas.
• Governor Burgum says every North Dakotan feels oil and natural gas impact.
• Opinion: The real price of wind and solar in the UK.

It has been an extremely encouraging week for American energy producers.

First, the Biden administration said Monday it is approving the massive Willow oil-drilling project on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope. This decision comes a day after officials said it would bar or limit drilling. This is welcome, if a bit belated, news to both American energy producers and American households hoping for lower energy costs.

Environmental groups immediately criticized the decision and litigation is expected.

The area of Alaska known as the North Slope contains 6 of the 100 largest oil fields in the United States and one of the 100 largest natural gas fields.

• The Willow project could produce up to 180,000 barrels of clean, domestic oil per day, when complete.
• It also would create up to 2,500 jobs during construction and 300 long-term jobs, and generate billions of dollars in royalties and tax revenues for the federal, state and local governments, the company said.
• Drill sites would include up to 199 total wells, officials said.

Second, House Republicans, led by Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, on Tuesday introduced the Lower Energy Costs Act.

Among other things, this bill would:

• Prevent the WH from banning fracking.
• Repeal Biden’s natural gas tax.
• Require Interior to hold lease sales.
• Reform permitting process to expedite approvals.

While the bill in its entirety is unlikely to win a majority in the Democrat-controlled Senate, it lays out a clear picture of Republican views on energy.

We applaud Scalise for his leadership on this issue. “With today’s introduction of the Lower Energy Costs Act, we will show the country how to end the war on American energy, become energy independent again, and lower costs for hard-working families who are struggling under the weight of President Biden’s radical agenda,” he said in a statement.

Bottom Line: In a positive week for common sense, Biden approved the Willow oil project and the House GOP introduced legislation to relieve Americans of high energy bills. Now let’s unleash that American energy!

Americans should be abhorred that in a nation so rich in natural gas, a single household’s monthly utility bill is higher than both their mortgage and insurance.

High energy bills are the fault and responsibility, as this story in the Wall Street Journal points out, of President Joe Biden and his progressive, green-at-any-cost allies in Congress.

With centuries of Clean, Affordable, Reliable natural gas in reserve, the government has put us on a path of total reliance on China for its clean (but unreliable) energy sources of wind, solar and batteries. This is immoral and hurts everyone, particularly the low-income households.

America can and should be energy independent. We lead the world in CO2 reduction and our air and water are the cleanest in a half-century since EPA regulations ramped up.

But 8 out of 10 Americans live paycheck to paycheck, credit card debt is skyrocketing and personal savings plummeting.

Going down this path is dangerous, as TEA has said numerous times:

• Switching to renewable energy will only make us vulnerable and dependent on untrustworthy and corrupt foreign sources of energy, much like it has in some European countries.
• Wind and solar developments on farmland take away our farmers’ ability to provide affordable food for Americans and other parts of the world.
• Wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries, which are a critical part of their productivity, currently have about a 20-30 year shelf-life. Some are disposed of in landfills, creating the need for more landfill space.

Policy decisions from progressives in the White House to state capitals have exacerbated the situation. Some states have blocked and discouraged new pipeline construction and hastened the closure of coal-fired power plants, while federal officials have said they would boost gas exports to support U.S. allies, particularly in Europe.

One representative recently stood up to the nonsense. Watch: Rep. Byron Donalds takes an environmental activist to school at a recent House Oversight Committee hearing. We need more like him in Congress to fight these policies and challenge Biden and his elitists.

Bottom Line: We must unleash American energy, starting with Clean, Affordable, Reliable Energy — natural gas. That would lower the heating bills for the Hodge family and millions of other Americans.

It was a turbulent week for global oil market with prices dropping to the mid to low $60s per barrel range, the cheapest seen since August 2021. Despite this, the national average for a gallon of gasoline remained steady at $3.46 per gallon. Since oil prices contribute heavily to the price you pay at the pump, you can expect fuel prices to drop over the coming weeks.

Hearing On EPA Budget: On Wednesday, March 22, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will have a hearing on the President’s FY 2024 budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Hearing On Climate Change And Insurance Markets: On Wednesday, March 22, the Senate Budget Committee will have a hearing “to examine how climate change is changing insurance markets.”

Hearing On DOE Budget: On Thursday, March 23, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies will have a hearing on the President’s FY 2024 budget request for the Department of Energy.

“The state’s never been in better financial shape, and a big thank you to the oil and gas industry for that. But once again, we find under this administration that there’s a lot of headwinds. Rather than trying to sell clean U.S. energy to our friends and allies, we have an administration that instead would prefer that our allies around the world buy it from our enemies.”

— North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum