April 12th, 2024

• 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.
• Understanding the slow and messy switch to electric cars.
• Dimon calls push to stop all oil and gas enormously naïve.
• West Virginia cracks down on major banks over environmental activism.
• Gallup poll: More in the U.S. say they wouldn’t consider buying an EV.
• How and why Biden destroyed the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
• U.S.-China trade tensions escalate over surging production of electric vehicles.
• Energy prices soar nearly 30% under Biden

The issue: Reversing the White House’s naive liquefied natural gas (LNG) export ban is crucial for several reasons.

Why it matters: Biden’s latest decision reflects a radical energy agenda that hurts many communities, including Port Arthur, Texas. House Republicans visited that city on Monday to highlight their view on the benefits of LNG exports in the largely black and Latino coastal community.

The ban brought a major job-creating project to a screeching halt that has impacted Texas, Louisiana and other states.

Consider: A direct consequence of Biden and his green-at-all-costs policies already can be seen among voters in another energy-rich state, Pennsylvania. Folks there have grown tired of the Democrats’ green agenda and instead want pro-American energy leaders. These residents are beginning to vote Red in traditionally strong Blue areas of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. PA Democrats are taking notice of this trend, with Senator John Fetterman and Governor Josh Shapiro both speaking out against the LNG ban.

• Nearly 40% of Pennsylvania’s 3.4 million registered voters identify affordable energy as being important to them.
• These residents are not happy with the fact that electricity prices have increased 29% since January 2021
• A poll last month found 58% of residents opposed the Biden administration’s LNG pause.
• Some members of labor unions working in the natural gas industry in the Keystone State are switching allegiances and voting Republican.
• Beyond the billions of dollars injected into the state’s economy, the oil and gas industry supports over 93,000 direct jobs and over 330,000 indirect jobs — from truck drivers to contractors and manufacturers — roughly 5.6 percent of the state’s total employment.

The natural gas industry, a sector that has given a boost to blue-collar employment in rural counties, has awakened voters to understand the direct negative impact that green policies can have on their livelihoods.

Bottom Line: Biden’s green-at-all-costs agenda is driving up energy prices and killing job opportunities, two things working families hate. These blue collar Americans are going to vote for pro-American energy candidates in November.

The issue: They can’t stop spending your money on green schemes, can they?

Why it matters: The Biden administration is giving $6.6 billion to a project run by the ex-Solyndra CEO. This administration continues to waste billions of taxpayers’ dollars on technology that is neither competitive nor affordable.

Consider: 

• In addition, the office running a crucial part of President Biden’s climate agenda has Congress’ approval to lend more than $200 billion for next-generation energy projects.
• These include solar farms and batteries to hydrogen production and lithium mining.
• Early in his term, Biden persuaded Congress to approve roughly $1 trillion in programs to tackle climate change, rebuild U.S. manufacturing, restore the nation’s infrastructure and best China in chips technology. Now, his agencies are racing to get the money out the door ahead of the Nov. 5 general election.
• Throw in the ill-named Inflation Reduction Act and the green-at-all-costs crowd has been watching a wasteful and reckless squandering of your money.

Handing out that cash — without allegations of waste or scandal — is no small task for the DOE, which still faces Republican attacks for its failed Obama-era loan guarantee to the solar manufacturer Solyndra. Though its leaders say the lending decisions will necessarily take time to complete, some Democrats worry about what would happen to the program under Trump, who has railed against what he calls Biden’s “Green New Scam.”

Bottom Line: Biden’s out-of-touch White House continues to spend billions of American taxpayers’ dollars on green schemes. This wasteful spending in the name of green energy needs to cease.

For the first time in over a year, the national average for a gallon of gasoline surpassed $3.60. Currently sitting at $3.63, the average price climbed about 7 cents over the past week. Don’t forget – global oil prices account for about 60% of what we pay at the pump, and recent news regarding Ukraine attacks on Russian refineries and increased tensions in the Middle East have driven oil into the mid-$80s. Drivers can expect the upward trend to continue as the price of oil continues to creep up.

Hearing On DOE Budget: On Tuesday, April 16, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will have a hearing to examine the President’s proposed budget request for fiscal year 2025 for the Department of Energy.

“Fossil fuels are the lifeblood of West Virginia. We’ve offered woke financial institutions a choice: you can boycott fossil fuels, or you can do business with our state, but you can’t do both.“

— Riley Moore, West Virginia State Treasurer on X.