August 5th, 2022

• American natural gas is the world’s most affordable and reliable green energy. TEA

• There is plenty of demand for natural gas. Forbes

• Another government-funded handout program for renewable energy. North American Wind Power

• Economics lesson: Analysts said the bump in natural gas prices likely will increase the price of everything, from food to plastics. E&E News

• Massive wind turbines are unsafe and this incident proves it. Mass Live

• Analysis: Tax hike in Manchin-backed bill would cost 27,000 jobs. Fox Business

• Thank you, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, for banning the bans. Phoenix New Times

The Inflation Reduction Act does anything but reduce inflation and help lower energy costs for Americans. This is a deceptive and misleading bill that Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) inexplicably agreed to last week. It is flawed in numerous ways, including enacting a first-time fee on excess emission of methane on the natural gas and oil industries. Among the provisions:

• The aforementioned methane tax that would hurt the supply of natural gas. It was estimated that an earlier methane tax proposal could cost the American people over $9 billion and about 90,000 jobs across the country.
  • The American Gas Association estimated that a 2021 methane tax proposal would “result in the average customer seeing an approximate increase of 17% in their natural gas bill, or over $100 per year for the average American family.”
• $25 billion in new taxes on the oil industry which will only drive gasoline prices back up just as American families are finally seeing relief from paying $5/gallon at the pumps.
• A $10 billion investment tax credit to build clean technology manufacturing facilities, including those that make electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels.
  • This measure shows how the Democrats did a terrible disservice to the nation by granting more subsidies. These government handouts are the only way for wind and solar projects to exist. They are a parasite on essential energy infrastructures such as natural gas power plants. The subsidies were almost eliminated but lo and behold, Democrats refilled that trough.
• There is a $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles (or battery cars, as TEA likes to call them) and a new $4,000 to anyone purchasing a used EV. This only helps wealthy EV owners, most of whom make more than $100,000 annually, at the expense of the poor and middle class.

Furthermore, we all heard Joe Biden tell American voters that there would be no tax increases for those earning less than $400,000 under his leadership. Well, that was a lie. A study by the Joint Committee on Taxation is projecting taxes to go up for almost every tax bracket.

It is a newer version of the Democrats Build Back Better blunder. This will increase taxes at a time when companies are recovering from post-Covid woes and rising inflation, now at 9%.

Bottom Line: Taxes in the Inflation Reduction Act will get passed along to families in their monthly energy bills and at the pumps. This is not how to combat inflation and remain energy independent.

Foreign energy reliance leads to an energy crisis. As a result, electricity prices soar, economic growth is reversed and working families suffer. With supplies reduced and prices higher, the natural gas crisis is shaking economies worldwide. For proof look no further than Europe.

• Russia has reduced natural gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to 20% of capacity amid tensions over the war in Ukraine.
• As a result, European natural gas prices have reached record highs in recent months.
• A survey of 3,500 European companies showed 16% are scaling back production or partially discontinuing operations due to soaring energy prices.
• The Netherlands nitrogen curtailment goal of 70% by 2030 is crippling farmers. America cannot, need not and should not follow them down this path.
• In Spain, the government is telling residents not to set their thermostats below 80 degrees Fahrenheit to conserve energy.

Bottom Line: Don’t be like Europe. Clean, affordable domestic energy – like American natural gas — is the obvious solution today, tomorrow and into the future.

Gas prices have now dropped for 50 consecutive days, with the national average now down to $4.11. Will we see that fall back under $3? It’s looking likely. And now, for a friendly meme reminder.

Nothing on the calendar for next week, happy recess!

COMMON SENSE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The world is now sunk in a natural gas shortage and prices are spiking, a prime indication of just how much the world’s go-to fuel goes under-appreciated by the media and politicians alike.”

— Energy Expert Jude Clemente in Forbes.

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