April 29nd, 2022

ICYMI – This is a must read from the WSJ editorial board’s Allysia Finley. Fossil Fuels’ Forthright Defender

The Empowerment Alliance has reported each step in this ongoing saga and the WSJ provides a succinct play by play from the last year. EQT’s CEO, Toby Rice doesn’t pull punches in his defense of the natural gas industry and the important part it plays in America’s economic successes. Beyond that, he points out the hypocrisy of the Administration’s approach to energy policy:

“When you attack oil and gas energy producers here in the United States, you’re attacking their customers, plain and simple,” he says. That makes “it harder for us to do what we do—and that’s to provide cheap, reliable, clean energy to the world. It’s going to have unintended consequences.”

The Administration claims to prioritize economic justice and supporting low-income communities but at every turn they have made it more expensive and more difficult for families to pay their bills.

Bottom line: The natural gas industry IS the answer to providing affordable, “green” energy from American sources to American families and businesses. And, this Administration’s ongoing attack on our domestic energy producers IS the problem.

This week Climate Envoy John Kerry set some truly confusing deadlines for the natural gas industry. In remarks to Bloomberg, he said,

“We have to put the industry on notice: You’ve got six years, eight years, no more than 10 years or so, within which you’ve got to come up with a means by which you’re going to capture, and if you’re not capturing, then we have to deploy alternative sources of energy”

How is industry or the economy supposed to react to that arbitrary timeline? There are no other sources of energy to “deploy” that can step up to power this nation within that timeframe. He undercuts his own nonsense with more nonsense.

Adding to his confusing reasoning, Climate Envoy Kerry stated earlier this year that natural gas is an important part of the future transition in the energy sector.

Bottom line: America’s energy future depends on “green,” affordable, domestic natural gas. Climate Envoy Kerry knows this but just can’t bring himself to say it—at least for more than a few weeks—before he goes back to his nonsense.

Q: What do the European Union and South Korea have in common?

A: Many things but this week we are going to focus on their energy policy.

• The EU and South Korea both have ambitious carbon reduction objectives.
• They also both have limited access to domestic sources for natural gas.
• They rely heavily on the resource for their economic growth over the last few decades.
• Most importantly, both are leading the world by identifying natural gas as a “green” energy resource to help them meet their ambitious emissions targets.

How are they planning to meet their emissions targets with natural gas?

In South Korea, “Liquefied natural gas was included in a taxonomy to accelerate green goals released by the Environment Ministry on Dec. 30.” And, “while South Korea has a goal of being carbon neutral by 2050, the decision shows that it still sees natural gas, a fossil fuel, as key to the transition. Seoul’s stance is similar to the European Union.”

In one simple maneuver, both the EU and South Korea have overtaken the United States as leaders in embracing “green” natural gas in order to meet global carbon reduction initiatives.

Bottom line: The world is safer and more prosperous when the United States leads. But, as that seems unlikely in the next year, maybe we could at least follow South Korea’s or Europe’s example by simultaneously promoting a major domestic industry and reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.

Gas prices continued to have a hold on American’s budgets and politician’s talking points. Prices continued to inch back up after a bit of temporary relief a few weeks ago. This week we’re paying an average of $4.14/gallon at the pump, up 2 cents from the same time last week. That’s $1.25 more per gallon than we were paying a year ago.

And, this week’s gas price sideshow was performed by Congressional Democrat leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi who held a press conference on the issue. Apparently, they’re going to propose legislation to allow government agencies to “go after” oil companies on sales practices. We all know letting up on bad policies that discourage domestic production is the real answer to lowering gas prices. But, sure, more finger-pointing should do the trick instead.

Hearing On Transportation Budget: On Tuesday, May 3, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on the FY2023 Department of Transportation budget.

Hearing On Energy Budget: On Wednesday, May 4, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development will hold a hearing on the FY2023 Department of Energy budget

DOE Webinar On Modernizing Power Grid: On Thursday, May 5, the Department of Energy will hold a public webinar on their Building a Better Grid Initiative “to strengthen and modernize America’s power grid.”

COMMON SENSE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We can restore American #EnergyIndependence, make fuel affordable again, and end our reliance on bad actors once and for all. But first, the Biden Admin must end its war on American energy and unleash the abundant resources we have right here in the United States.”

– Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) on Twitter