GND Christmas: Sky-high energy prices & a lump of coal

The Enbridge Line 3 pipeline replacement project which crosses through North Dakota, Minnesota and ends in Wisconsin was completed late last week and is scheduled to be at full capacity in early November.

In the face of opposition from “the squad,” U.S. Reps. Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), Pete Stauber (R-MN), and Tom Emmer (R-MN) hit the nail on the head, “People in Minnesota support Line 3 because Line 3 supports Minnesota’s energy needs.” The Line 3 construction supports nearly 8,600 jobs, about $334 million in wages and “a $2 billion boost to the Minnesota economy.” AOC and company may be crying, but Minnesotans are celebrating!

The Bottom Line: Pipeline systems are the safest way to transport natural gas and oil products. Line 3 improvements will make energy delivery more efficient and safer to people and the environment.

Speaking of pipelines, Americans are being hurt at home and at work by Biden’s “Russia and OPEC should produce more oil and gas but America can’t” hypocrisy.

Pipeliner Suzanne Walker captured this double whammy on Americans perfectly, “I’ve now been laid off for over a year, and disadvantaged because of the effective halt on new pipeline projects in our country.” On the east coast, the PennEast Pipeline project was canceled and with gas in short supply, New York and New Jersey may wind up burning more oil for electricity this winter.

Even the President realizes that increasing supply would help ease the financial burden on Americans. But, he turned to OPEC and Russia for help even though the problem could easily be solved here at home by increasing production and allowing new pipeline projects. By hindering consumer access to U.S. natural gas, Americans are paying more for everyday goods, being forced to rely on countries with fewer environmental safeguards to meet demand, and consuming more harmful energy sources.

The Bottom Line: Instead of serving the interests of Russia and OPEC, President Biden should serve the interests of Americans by opening up domestic oil and gas production to ease the global shortage.

The holiday season is around the corner and many of your local retailers typically rely on end-of-year sales to stay afloat. This is especially true as the economy attempts to recover from the pandemic. However, increased energy prices are expected to further hinder that recovery and drive down consumer spending as people prioritize their electric and heating bills.

There are numerous reasons why global energy prices are climbing and the solution isn’t solar panels and wind turbines. The answer is affordable, clean, abundant, domestic natural gas. The U.S. has enjoyed its best air quality in half a century largely due to the increased use of natural gas and as pipeline projects are pulled offline and supply isn’t meeting demand, communities are turning to sources like burning oil and coal to meet their energy needs.

The Bottom Line: Inflation and rising energy prices threaten to dampen consumer spending this Holiday season, what we’ll refer to from this point forward as your “Biden Bill”.

COMMON SENSE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We support the CEPP’s intent to accelerate decarbonization through incentives. We don’t support the use of penalties or the proposed compliance framework because they would jeopardize customer affordability and reliability.”

– Arizona Public Service Company, on the clean electricity performance program.