June 7th, 2024

• Stay up to date on all things energy by visiting the TEA Newsroom.
• Natural Gas CARES: It provides Clean, Affordable, Reliable Energy Security.
• Three FERC nominees inch closer to confirmation.
• Opinion: Landmark emissions study: LNG is better for the environment.
• Manchin to keep energy gavel after dumping Democratic party.
• Vermont becomes the first state to require oil companies to pay for climate change damage.
• Balderson, Capito introduce bicameral resolutions to block Biden’s plan to shutter American power plants.
• Biden’s solar energy subsidies shatter our power grid.
• EU Green New Deal? No thanks: Germany’s liberals want a weaker ‘Yellow Deal.’
• Virginia exits California’s EV mandate.

The issue: The U.S. oil and gas industry is emitting less carbon than it used to. This has occurred at the same time it has increased production.

Why it Matters: American oil and gas companies have cut back on methane emissions even as production reached record heights, a new analysis shows. The Permian Basin is producing far more gas and oil than it was seven years ago, but it’s doing so in a more carbon-efficient manner, which has prevented methane and carbon emissions from rising at the same rates as production. That’s good for business and good for the environment.

Consider:

• The U.S. energy industry continues to extract record amounts of fossil fuels, despite climate activists’ calls to “keep it in the ground.” But while oil and gas extraction has increased in recent years, the carbon emissions from that industrial activity have actually fallen, a new analysis has found.
• Even as fossil gas production rose by 40 percent from 2015 to 2022, methane emissions from gas extraction fell by 37 percent, according to a study of Environmental Protection Agency data published this week.
• Increased use of natural gas for electricity generation is the top reason for U.S. power sector emissions reductions over the past 17 years — almost double the impact compared to renewable power generation.

Oil and gas extraction isn’t about to disappear. So making it as clean as possible is a clear win for the climate, energy producers and millions of consumers.
Climate advocates have seized on a meta-strategy for decarbonization: Electrify everything, and run it with clean electricity. That approach may need to extend to the realm of oil and gas extraction, for as long as it continues. American natural gas and oil companies are leading the way — and they have for some time.

Bottom Line: Production is up and emissions are down. Natural gas is the cleanest, most affordable and reliable energy source available, and it’s only getting better.

The issue: Silicon Valley has a coming energy crisis, as this opinion piece points out.

The same big tech companies who’ve advocated fervently for net-zero policies are now saying we’re going to need more power. Quite the quandary, don’t ya think?

Why it Matters: The true irony is that Big Tech helped give life to climate catastrophism and has advocated a net-zero energy transition. Silicon Valley techies for years have financed the political and cultural movement against the extraction, refinement and transportation of fossil fuels. Those brilliant minds that brought us semiconductor chips, iPhones and the internet will have to fight to fuel their latest innovations because, ironically, oil, gas and pipeline companies hold the keys to Silicon Valley’s future.

Consider:

• Access to cheap, reliable and abundant electricity powered by fossil fuels will soon pose a major risk to such businesses as Apple, Google and Microsoft.
• According to Goldman Sachs, AI is likely to drive a 160% increase in data-center power demand by 2030.
• Wind and solar power won’t be able to rise to the occasion. Much of artificial intelligence’s physical infrastructure will need to be built in the U.S., rather than China or India, due to security concerns.

So barring a rapid and unlikely build-out of domestic nuclear power, natural gas will power America’s AI future. The campaign to phase out fossil fuels is on a collision course with the AI revolution. Energy-intensive AI technologies are becoming more dependent on the electrical grid, which is largely powered by coal and natural gas.

Bottom Line: Net-zero isn’t compatible with the AI boom. Time for big tech to accept the fact that the only way to generate enough power for data centers is through an affordable, reliable, clean energy source — natural gas.

Gas prices are headed in the right direction for families eyeing that summer road trip. The national average for a gallon of gasoline dropped 9 cents over the past week, currently sitting at $3.47. That’s the largest weekly drop of the year so far!

Hearing On CARB And The Rail Network: On Wednesday, June 12, the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight will have a hearing on “Environmentalism Off the Rails: How California Air Resources Board will Cripple the National Rail Network.”

Hearing On ESG Investing: On Wednesday, June 12, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust will have a hearing on “Climate Control: Decarbonization Collusion in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing.”

Hearing On Critical Minerals Workforce: On Wednesday, June 12, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety will have a hearing to examine building our critical minerals workforce.

“From day one, President Biden has done nothing but attack American energy. He paused new oil and gas leases. He canceled the Keystone pipeline. He prioritized foreign energy over domestic energy … The Department of Energy and the EPA are releasing rules and regulations at a neck-breaking speed.”

— Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry