Common Sense Energy: 5/14/21

A few days ago, the main pipeline carrying 45% gasoline and diesel fuel to the East Coast was shut down by a cyber-attack. This one attack has sent fuel prices soaring and is paralyzing the Southeast United States.

Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was asked if it would be feasible to use rail cars to transport fuel to affected areas.

In a rare moment of honesty from the Biden Administration, Granholm said  pipelines are “the best way to go” compared to trucks, railcars and freighters.

Talk about common sense!

Alas, it was to be short-lived…

…because White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that despite the cyber-attack paralyzing the east coast, Joe Biden is still considering cancelling existing pipelines.

Biden, as you may recall, revoked the permit for the Keystone Pipeline on his first day in office, killing 1,000 union jobs.

The pipeline would have carried 800,000 barrels per day from Alberta to the gulf coast in Texas.

If the ongoing Colonial Pipeline mess is “Exhibit A” of what happens when our government doesn’t have a strategy for an energy crisis, February’s winter storm in Texas is “Exhibit B.”

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which is overseen by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, pays for large industrial power users to shut down in anticipation of an increase in demand in electricity.  The only problem was that some of these industrial power users were critical components of the state’s natural gas infrastructure. As a result, multiple natural gas power plants were forced to shut down due to a lack of natural gas. Put differently, “As Texas Went Dark, the State Paid Natural-Gas Companies to Go Offline.” Read the Wall Street Journal’s report HERE.

Americans are now paying 63% more for gasoline now than they were a year ago. The current national average is $3.03/gallon. It was $1.86/gallon one year ago.

Politico: The fallout from the pipeline closure…revives memories of the gasoline shortages and price shocks that plagued the nation in the 1970s, helping seal then-President Jimmy Carter’s defeat by Ronald Reagan at the end of the decade.

House Hearing On DOE Budget: On Wednesday, May 19, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy will hold a hearing on the FY2022 Department of Energy budget.

House Hearing On “Corporate Welfare in the Oil and Gas Industry”: On Wednesday, May 19, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a hearing on “Misuse of Taxpayer Dollars and Corporate Welfare in the Oil and Gas Industry.”

House Hearing On “Clean Energy” And The Electric Grid: On Thursday, May 20, the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will hold a hearing on “Powering Up Clean Energy: Investments to Modernize and Expand the Electric Grid.”

FERC Open Meeting: On Thursday, May 20, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold a Virtual Open Meeting of the Commission.