June 16th, 2023

• Stay up to date on all things energy by visiting the TEA Newsroom.
• Still confused about the natural gas ban in New York State? Here’s a breakdown.
• Summer looks golden in New England for the energy grid, fueled mostly by natural gas.
• Britain turns to coal to make it through the summer.
• Native American tribe plans protests, considers suing over oil-leasing crackdown.
• Poland to challenge EU climate laws before top court.
• Needed: Car experts to fend off grid disaster.

Shell chief executive officer’s new strategy sees a long-term future for natural gas.

“We have always known that gas is crucial for the energy transition, but our new strategy is built around a new belief — that gas will continue to play a key role in the energy mix,” Cederic Cremers, an executive vice president for LNG at Shell, said in an internal memo, Bloomberg News reports.

TEA’s agenda has promoted natural gas as a Clean, Affordable, Reliable Energy Source (CARES). Shell and other domestic producers understand the fact that our energy security and our national security are at stake; hence, their belief in the fuel source.

Those who don’t get it and are putting their false hopes in (unreliable and costly) renewable sources like wind or solar, are in for a rude awakening.

This New York Times article, US electric grid isn’t ready for the energy transition, explains why.

For starters:

• There is no single U.S. grid. There are three — one in the West, one in the East and one in Texas — that only connect at a few points and share little power between them.
• Those grids are further divided into a patchwork of operators with competing interests. That makes it hard to build the long-distance power lines needed to transport wind and solar nationwide.
• Many spots with the best sun and wind are far from cities and the existing grid. To make the plan work, the nation would need thousands of miles of new high-voltage transmission lines — large power lines that would span multiple grid regions.

And who would pay for this? As some climate activists wring their collective hands on this issue, others like Shell’s leader know that natural gas will play a stable role in America’s energy future.

Need further proof of which energy source is the most stable and abundant? Look at the craze surrounding electric vehicles.

This opinion piece in The Hill details why Biden’s plan to phase out gas-powered cars is all pain for consumers, with absolutely no gain.

• It will increase drivers’ costs. Gasoline-powered vehicles are much more affordable than their battery-powered equivalents.
• Convenience. A big advantage of gasoline-powered engines is that gas stations are common and that filling up tanks takes about five minutes.
• Electric vehicles have to be recharged every 200 to 300 miles, and recharging takes 45 minutes to an hour.

Bottom Line: Domestic energy, spearheaded by natural gas, continues to be the best option for individuals and small business owners across the nation.

President Biden can’t win for losing, as the old saying goes.

First, emails show that Biden officials explored cracking down on gas stoves earlier than previously known when a top administration official met with an environmental activist last year to “evaluate the legal rationale for gas stove standards.”

• The communications, obtained by Fox News Digital via information request this week, show the little-known four-member Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was actively exploring legal justifications for regulations impacting gas stoves last summer.
• In June 2022, CPSC commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. consulted with a New York City eco group, asking for a legal justification to issue gas stove standards, according to the documents.
• The CPSC stated at the time that there are “no regulatory proceedings planned for gas stoves or range emissions.”

This over regulation obviously upsets conservatives and many Republicans who want clean, affordable energy, as well as those in the domestic natural gas and oil industry.

Republican lawmakers have repeatedly opposed the Biden administration for its attempts to regulate gas stoves. This week they proposed legislation curbing the federal government’s ability to take such action.

If that’s not enough of the blatant lies coming from this administration, this piece outlines how other Biden policies have angered climate activists ahead of the 2024 election:

• Biden has backed more LNG exports, citing the war in Ukraine, and approved federal oil and gas permits after pledging to ban new permitting as a candidate.
• He pushed forward the Willow oil project in Alaska and the Mountain Valley pipeline in the Appalachian region, in response to bipartisan pressure from lawmakers.

This angers the left wing of his Democratic party and scores of climate extremists, many of whom contributed financially to his election. Green groups alone gave an estimated $45 million to the Biden election effort in 2020.

So he flip-flops and tries to make up for it with this move, urging a California court to allow a local ban on new gas stoves in Berkeley.

Biden is superficially friendly to the oil and gas industry because that allows him to take the position of supporting our allies in Europe via Liquid Natural Gas exports. It also portrays him as a moderate, not a climate extremist.

It’s nothing more than a clash of competing priorities as he is caught between political convenience and his core beliefs.

Bottom Line: Here’s the simple truth: The Biden administration (and their elite climate funders) hate natural gas and will do everything in their power to reduce its use. Anything else they tell you is a lie, just as the CPSC emails revealed.

For the third week in a row, gas prices have remained in neutral. As of today, the national average for a gallon of gasoline is $3.58, which is exactly the same as one week ago. In a surprising turn, California’s grasp on the highest average for gasoline is fading. Washington state, after passing a new carbon tax, is vying for the top spot with an average price of $4.87 per gallon. California is just two cents ahead, with the average sitting at $4.88. Remember – carbon taxes will always punish the consumer!

New England Winter Gas-Electric Forum: On Tuesday, June 20, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will convene the 2023 New England Winter Gas-Electric Forum.

North American Electric Reliability Corporation Meetings: On Tuesday, June 20, and Thursday, June 22, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation will hold an extreme cold weather grid operations, preparedness, coordination standard drafting team meetings.

Hearing On Fossil Fuels: On Wednesday, June 21, the Senate Budget Committee will have a hearing “to examine fossil fuel threats to climate and the Federal budget.”

Hearing On CEQ Budget: On Thursday, June 22, the House Natural Resources Committee will have a hearing on “Examining the Council on Environmental Quality Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request and Related Policy Matters.”

“The fight against the ban on gas stoves extends far beyond a mere debate on energy sources or the means of cooking; it is about preserving our freedoms and defending the choices that make our households uniquely American.”

— Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Washington)