August 11th, 2023

• Stay up to date on all things energy by visiting the TEA Newsroom.
• Natural Gas CARES: It is the world’s Cleanest, Affordable, Reliable Energy Source.
• Boston mayor bans fossil fuels in new city-owned buildings.
• Opinion: Still cooking with gas.
• Cruz, Comer demand the DOJ investigate environmental groups promoting CCP interests.
• Many Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of climate change.
• Texas officials target climate science in textbooks.
• Bat activity is significantly lower at solar farm sites.

As Americans are in the midst of summer travel season, we all notice the high price of gasoline at the pump as we fill up our tanks and head to the beach or campsite for some rest and relaxation prior to school starting.

Gas prices have spike in recent weeks, with the national average for a gallon of gasoline currently sitting at $3.84. This is the highest average since October 2022 and it represents a 19% increase over the past 3 months. This comes as the August CPI report shows the YoY inflation rate increasing for the first time since June 2022.

Affordable energy means lower prices at the pump, something we don’t hear a lot about from the current administration. This ties in directly with an effort by power companies asking President Biden to end the war on fossil fuel plants.

In May, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule that would require coal fired plants across the country to eliminate or ‘capture’ nearly all carbon emissions released by 2038, or be subject to mandatory closure.

Lawmakers and energy advocates alike have condemned the proposal, saying it would not only wipe out countless blue collar jobs, it would be yet another blow to the economy. As America increasingly moves off of low-cost, reliable fossil fuels, it taps into more expensive and unreliable alternatives like wind and solar.

TEA’s common sense energy agenda outlines why this matters:

• Affordable and reliable energy is essential to our livelihood and the well-being of everyone.
• Access to abundant and reliable natural gas is essential to affordable energy for working class Americans, family farmers and small businesses.
• Affordable energy is critical to returning manufacturing and good-paying jobs to our nation.

To realize affordable energy independence we need to fill thousands of jobs waiting for Americans to roll up their sleeves and get to work. That is why the war on fossil fuels that is more than two and a half years in the making needs to end. What’s needed is more pipelines completed, more projects approved and more domestic energy produced.

Bottom Line: Affordable energy is the difference between life and death for millions of people. With Bidenflation rearing its ugly head once again, Americans are feeling the squeeze at the pump. Bringing prices down should be lawmakers’ top priority.

Draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with no real plan, while putting America’s national security at risk. Sounds like bad energy policy, right?

Well let that sink in before you hear the kicker about the Energy Secretary and her secret meeting involving the Chinese.

Few facts on the SPR:

• US oil reserves are now at their lowest level since 1985.
• The decline of US reserves over the last 2 years is faster than any time in history, and it’s not even close.
• Just last week, the US said they are delaying refilling reserves again due to “market conditions.”

By the way, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm secretly consulted top CCP energy officials before SPR releases, news outlets report.

Granholm’s previously-undisclosed talks with China National Energy Administration Chairman Zhang Jianhua — revealed in internal Energy Department calendars obtained by Americans for Public Trust (APT) and shared with Fox News Digital — reveal that the Biden administration likely discussed its plans to release oil from the SPR with China before its public announcement.

“Secretary Granholm’s multiple closed-door meetings with a CCP-connected energy official raise serious questions about the level of Chinese influence on the Biden administration’s energy agenda,” APT Executive Director Caitlin Sutherland told Fox News Digital.

Equally alarming is the SPR’s level has fallen to about 346.8 million barrels of oil, the lowest level since August 1983, according to Energy Information Administration data released on July 28. The current level is also 43% lower than its level recorded days prior to the November 2021 release. Meanwhile, oil prices are now nearing a new 52-week high.

Throw in the fact that new polling shows Americans are quite concerned with electricity reliability and affordability and you have the recipe for a really bad energy trifecta.

Bottom Line: The public deserves to know the extent to which the CCP are attempting to infiltrate U.S. energy policy and security, and the extent to which we are allowing them to. So far, the White House has been silent about this national security threat.

As stated above, Bidenflation is rearing its ugly head once again. In the last month alone, gasoline prices have increased 30 cents, up to their highest levels since October 2022. The national average for a gallon of gasoline is currently $3.84. Although prices haven’t moved much in the past week, that won’t be the case for long. Rising demand and oil prices signal more pain at the pump is coming, so buckle your seat belts.

Nothing on the calendar for next week!

“The Biden administration secretly colluded with the Chinese Communist Party to help lower energy prices in China while hardworking American taxpayers were left to pay more at the pump here at home. They always put America last.”

— House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)