March 15th, 2024

• Stay up to date on all things energy by visiting the TEA Newsroom.
• Natural Gas CARES: It is the world’s Cleanest, Affordable, Reliable Energy Source.
• Opinion: Biden’s green energy economy is failing America.
• Greenwashing: How industries lie to you.
• A Republican climate caucus? Yes, it exists and is growing.
• Biden proposes funding hike for energy, environment.
• UK to allow new gas plants, backtracking on clean grid plan.
• How Trump could exit the Paris climate deal — and thwart reentry.
• US oil is pumping more than any country in history.

The issue: Despite what President Biden touted in his State of the Union speech last week, America still needs natural gas and oil production as well as the jobs they provide. His pledges and promises on so-called green energy manufacturing jobs are quite overblown.

This Daily Caller opinion piece puts it into perspective and echoes TEA’s Common Sense Energy Agenda.

It’s also important to note, as this author writes, that economic prosperity directly correlates to energy usage. Oil consumption and a nation’s Gross Domestic Product have a statistically perfect correlation. For example, the United States and China have the highest oil consumption and the largest GDP. Energy poor countries like Micronesia, Sao Tome and Principe have the lowest.

Why it matters:  The American people heard pledges and promises, Mr. President. He committed big on what his energy policies would deliver. The Inflation Reduction Act, he said, is fueling “tens of thousands of clean energy jobs,” pointing to plans to produce electric vehicles at a shuttered plant in Illinois and projects on EV charging stations. So, it’s taxpayers’ money given to a fledgling business.

• This is wasteful spending on a product that most Americans do not want and can not afford.
• Biden also pointed to his efforts to create a Climate Corps of young people working on clean energy projects, pledging to increase their numbers to 60,000.
• He said his policies have helped spur billions of dollars in private sector investments in clean energy and advanced manufacturing. Many of these projects have not yet begun.

Where are the detailed plans for these green-at-any-cost schemes?

Consider: At the same time, Texas is suing the Biden administration over a finalized methane rule. This is another punitive move thrust upon natural gas and oil producers.

We agree with the Railroad Commission, which called the rule “extremely unreasonable, and time-consuming … and creates an undue burden on regulators as well as the oil and gas industry, by forcing further emission reductions in remote, unmanned locations.”

Emissions from the natural gas distribution system have decreased by 69% since 1990, reports the American Gas Association.

Bottom Line: There’s no “pot of gold” at the end of Biden’s green rainbow. Rather than promising green jobs that may never come, the President should promote the economic advantages of a strong domestic oil and gas industry.

The issue: Amid record high energy demand, America is running out of power. That seems unlikely.

The increased strain on the grid is due, at least in part, to Biden’s plan to stop relying on fossil fuels and backing renewable sources of energy.

Why it matters: This grid issue is a crisis that Biden helped to create and America quickly needs to reverse its course. Costly California looms as a prime example of poor energy policy. The Golden State is the epicenter of green energy in the United States and it’s costing residents more as these policies affect not only electricity and fuel prices, but also housing utility and construction costs.

The energy transition is steering large numbers of Americans to rely on the power grid to fuel vehicles, heat pumps, induction stoves and all manner of other household appliances that previously ran on fossil fuels. A huge amount of clean energy is also needed to create the green hydrogen championed by the White House, as developers rush to build plants that can produce the powerful zero-emissions fuel, lured by generous federal subsidies.

Consider: 

• Planners are increasingly concerned that the grid won’t be green enough or powerful enough to meet these demands.
• Already, soaring power consumption is delaying coal plant closures in Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin and South Carolina.
• Building more transmission lines and transfer stations needed involves huge land acquisitions, exhaustive environmental reviews and negotiations to determine who should pay what costs.

Bottom Line: No, America isn’t running out of power. Our government is simply choosing unreliable sources for that power to come from. Higher demand + less reliable supply is a recipe for disaster.

Filling up the tank this weekend will cost you a little more “gold” than it did last week. The national average for a gallon of gasoline is currently $3.44, up slightly from $3.40 last Friday. As we’ve said before, this is the time of year when prices at the pump typically heat up, so you can expect the upward trend to continue over the coming months.

Hearing On FY 2025 DOE Budget: On Wednesday, March 20, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies will have a hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request for the Department of Energy.

Hearing On Climate Costs: On Wednesday, March 20, the Senate Budget Committee will have a hearing to examine the nature of climate costs.

FERC Open Meeting: On Thursday, March 21, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold an Open Meeting of the Commission.

Hearing On FERC Nominations: On Thursday, March 21, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will have a hearing to examine nominations to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“I would say to the most progressive green energy proponent: Natural gas has to be part of our energy stack in how we transition towards a greener renewable energy future. That’s something we can do at the same time.”

-Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) commenting on Biden’s LNG export pause.