July 14th, 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.
• New York State built Elon Musk a $1 billion factory. ‘It was a bad deal.’
• Biden’s EV push adds hours to a routine Marine trip.
• New anti-ESG rule in Missouri offers another path away from ‘wokeness.’
• Permitting talks to resume as Congress returns.
• Eugene removes natural gas ban from ballot.
• Mountain Valley Pipeline is halted in court again.
• Energy Sec says SPR won’t be refilled before Biden’s term is over.

American energy independence remains strong despite repeated attempts by OPEC to diminish its strength. OPEC and its allies so far this year have announced cuts amounting to about 6% of last year’s production.

Secretary General of OPEC, Haitham al Ghais, said at a recent OPEC meeting in Vienna: “We must do everything we can to reduce emissions, not to reduce energy. There is a misconception going around about reducing production and reducing investment in oil and gas, we do not agree with that message. We believe that all sources of energy will be required in the future; renewables included…”

We don’t believe al Ghais’ statement or much else that comes from OPEC. TEA does believe that American natural gas and oil producers are among the most innovative and industrious of any segment of the workforce. And that when domestic energy sources are prevalent, the U.S. is a stronger and safer nation.

Earlier this month Tennessee joined Ohio as states that officially recognize natural gas as a clean energy source.

• Both states have more than 40% of its households earning an income of less than $50,000 annually.
• Both are heavily agricultural (combined more than 145,000 farms) and rely on small business (combined 375,000).
• The states have more than 3 million residents at least 65 years old and many living on fixed incomes.

That’s who this legislation helps the most.

A few facts:

• U.S. petroleum production is on pace for a record-breaking year, helping to keep energy prices stable despite the efforts of Saudi Arabia and other major oil exporters to drive them higher.
• Exxon-Mobil and Chevron are both working to significantly boost their output in the next few years from the Permian Basin — a key oil-producing region that spans parts of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The industry still only recovers about 10% of the oil it theoretically could, an official said.
• Companies’ efforts to improve efficiency are also giving them more leeway to remain profitable even when oil prices are slipping.

Natural gas is the answer to our future energy needs. Natural gas CARES means it is a Clean, Affordable, Reliable Energy Source. Ohio and Tennessee get this.

Bottom Line: Energy independence equals national security. This is why we should not rely on foreign sources of energy, and instead produce our own. Processing and using affordable, clean and abundant natural gas helps lessen our dependence on OPEC and the Saudis.

President Biden has a new catchphrase, Bidenomics, and it’s pure hogwash.

Our definition: Bidenomics (n): practice of spending billions of taxpayer dollars on the “green-at-any-cost” energy agenda, making the US reliant on OPEC oil & Chinese “green” tech.

At the same time, China is flexing its critical metals muscles curbing exports, specifically those rare elements used in computer chips and fiber optics. The country is threatening to withhold exports of gallium and germanium.

Political consequences: “Jobs that used to go to Mexico, India, Romania and China are now coming home to South Carolina,” Biden said last week while touting electric vehicles in a state he won easily in 2020.

That popularity is going to reverse itself quickly if his push for electric vehicles continues. American manufacturing jobs surely will be lost due to this green-at-any-cost philosophy.

Biden’s blind push for EVs pits the green-energy agenda against auto unions. Again, Biden finds himself between a rock and a hard place.

In 2022, The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning think tank, projected that 75,000 autoworker jobs could be lost by 2030 in the transition to electric cars and trucks without strong federal policies that protect and promote American employment.

Supply & demand: Unsold electric cars are piling up on dealer lots across the country. The growing mismatch between EV supply and demand is a sign that even though consumers are showing more interest in EVs, they’re still wary about purchasing one because of price and/or charging concerns.

This opinion piece clearly points out how Biden’s commitment to green energy is both weakening the U.S. and empowering our primary global adversary, China.
American automakers and unions need to band together and stop this move that potentially could cripple the US automaking industry and result in thousands of layoffs and further downsizing. More EV production also makes us even more reliant on Chinese-harvested minerals.

As a result, China’s economy has benefited significantly from the global push toward renewable energy. Of the 12.7 million jobs worldwide related to renewable energy, almost half are in China.

Bottom Line: Bidenomics and its green-at-any-cost clean energy push, including the love affair with EVs, is making China great again — and doing so with American taxpayers’ money.

Gas prices are moving upwards once again, as the price of oil has increased over the past two weeks. The national average for a gallon of gasoline is $3.55 as of today, which is 2 cents higher than it was one week ago. There are now 6 states with averages north of $4 per gallon, including California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Hearing On Climate Risk: On Tuesday, July 18, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy Committee will have a hearing on “Climate-Risk: Are Financial Regulators Politically Independent.”

“If you cared about the environment you’d want every drop of energy produced in the United States, because we produce it cleaner and safer.”

—  North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Fox News.