November 1st, 2024

• Stay up to date on all things energy by visiting the TEA Newsroom.
• America needs Affordable, Reliable, Clean energy security.
• 10 state AG races to watch on climate, energy.
• Egypt to double down on natural gas.
• Berkeley wants to get rid of natural gas after one failed attempt.
• Powerful utility group chief heads for exit.
• Nevada GOP voters embrace climate change while Democrats oppose solar.
• Ford lost another $1.2B in 3Q on EVs.
• Biden/Harris LNG export policies losing credibility.
• Opinion: America can’t do without fracking.
• Five congressional races key to energy policy.

The issue: Kamalanomics would be a failure of epic proportion — and average Americans will suffer.

Why it matters: Kamala Harris’ plan to raise taxes is the wrong move and it’ll affect everything from the cost of energy to grocery prices.

Under Harris, gas prices averaged $3.49 a gallon, while under Trump, gas prices averaged just $2.48 a gallon. That’s due in part to the Biden-Harris assault on domestic energy producers and irrational exuberance for electric vehicle mandates.

Look no further than the 250 actions, documented by The American Energy Alliance, that have made it difficult to produce domestic natural gas and oil. It started on day one, Jan. 20, 2021:

• President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline.
• Then the administration restricted domestic production by issuing a moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• Biden officially rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement, which is detrimental to America and increases the dependence of Europe on Russian oil and natural gas.

Under their watch inflation skyrocketed, reaching a high of 9.1% in June 2022. This means Americans are effectively continuing to suffer a pay cut under Bidenomics and Kamalanomics. Meanwhile, under President  Donald Trump, real average weekly earnings increased 8.2%.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), for which Harris served as the tie-breaking vote, did little to nothing to curb inflation.

Consider: The Biden-Harris administration advocated the U.S. government leveraging its power to attack U.S. energy producers while subsidizing favored industries, namely wind and solar projects. In May 2023, EPA proposed new regulations requiring power plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and require carbon capture.

Finally, she advocates more taxes across the board when millions of Americans already are living paycheck to paycheck. These policies hurt all consumers; low- and middle-income families and the elderly the most.

According to a new Gallup survey, 56% of Americans say they are over-taxed. Yet Harris vows to impose a long list of tax increases totaling $5 trillion over the next decade.
The Treasury Department estimates the subsidies for carbon capture alone would cost the federal government more than $36 billion in revenue over 10 years.

Bottom line: Harris fails to distance Kamalanomics from failed Bidenomics — because there’s no daylight between them. But by comparison, it’ll make the past four years look like child’s play.

The issue: Green groups want Kamala Harris to do more in their impassioned battle to slow climate change. In summary, the climate extremists expect her full commitment to stopping hydrocarbons and pushing Green New Deal policies. From her time serving in the U.S. Senate and work as a California prosecutor, she’s shown to be much more extreme in her energy policies than Biden.

Why it matters: She wants to punish natural gas and oil producers at every opportunity, while backing an extremist climate agenda like the ones advocated by the green-at-any-cost groups. Here is some of what climate activists expect from a Harris presidency:

• Billions to be spent on Inflation Reduction Act 2.0;
• Tax natural gas plants for emissions;
• Limit LNG exports;
• Shut down the Dakota Access pipeline.

Some are pushing a harder line, quietly developing blueprints for Harris to stifle flows of U.S. oil and gas if the liberal Democrat defeats Trump next Tuesday. Environmentalists are encouraging Congress to revive some proposals that didn’t make it into the IRA the first time around. One contender: a so-called Clean Electricity Performance Program that would have used grant money to entice electric utilities to hit annual targets for emission-free power generation while hitting the laggards with fees.

Consider: Further investments in decarbonizing heavy industry could be paired with new regulatory limits on emissions from steel mills, concrete plants and other facilities. All that will do is drive up costs and possibly lead to layoffs, much like the auto industry has experienced with the government-backed electric vehicle push.

It’s the same game plan, featuring more rules and regulations, bureaucratic red tape and needless hurdles for manufacturing companies to overcome to do business. And, worse yet, more federal government influence in picking winners and losers, rather than letting free market principles determine the outcome.

“The Inflation Reduction Act was just a down payment on the climate crisis,” said Leah Stokes, an environmental politics professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. “There is lots more to be done.”

Bottom line:It doesn’t take a genius to understand that if Harris wins, her energy and climate policy will be influenced by the massive environmental lobby – they’re already drafting plans for a supersized version of Biden’s green agenda.

Trick or treat? For American motorists, the past few months have been all treats and no tricks. The national average for a gallon of gas is now $3.12, which is two cents less than it was a week ago. Less than a week out from the election, and gas prices are at their lowest point  in November since Biden took office in 2021. The past 4 years have been a wild ride, to say the least.

Election Day is on the calendar next Tuesday, go vote!!

“In many ways the Democrats have banned fracking without actually banning it. Through regulation, through red tape, through EPA mandates. My point of view, and I think President Trump’s, is we need to unlock that. Because natural gas and fracking is not only the key to the economic growth in Pennsylvania, bringing low cost manufacturing back, but it’s also key to our national security; it’s also key to the environment.”

-Senate Candidate Dave McCormick (R-PA) in a video posted on Twitter/X.