Tag Archives: energy prices in America

Putting The Blame Where It Belongs

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On Saturday, The Daily Caller posted an article about the problem of rising energy prices under President Trump. As the expression goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” President Trump has been in office for less than six months, he is still dealing with the multi-dimensional mess he walked into.

The article reports:

The corporate media is suggesting that President Donald Trump and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) are responsible for rising electricity prices rather than the aggressive green energy policies of Democrats and former President Joe Biden, who himself presided over a major spike in prices.

Several major corporate media outlets have linked Trump’s OBBBA to climbing energy prices, despite data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showing that electricity bills were already on the rise, shooting up during the middle of the Biden administration. Energy experts, grid watchdogs and operators have long warned that the Biden-era green energy push threatens grid security and drives up electricity costs, as power demand also surges from the booming artificial intelligence (AI) sector.

“Electricity prices have been increasing since the grid became burdened with unreliable and expensive wind and solar. The problem has recently worsened as electricity demand has increased because of the explosion in AI-driven data center energy needs that wind and solar just can’t meet,” Steve Milloy, senior policy fellow at the Energy and Environment Legal Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Demand will likely continue to increase and will only be satisfied by more fossil fuel and nuclear baseload power. The BBB will make more baseload power possible by discouraging utilities from adding more unreliable and pointlessly expensive wind and solar.”

The article concludes:

“Democrats committed arson on electricity prices and now they have the nerve to accuse Trump of playing with matches. In Trump’s first term, electricity prices rose by less than 1% per year. Under Biden, electricity prices rose 22%. I think the American people will trust President Trump’s energy policies more than hypocritical Democrat finger-pointing,” James Taylor, president of The Heartland Institute and the founding director of Heartland’s Arthur B. Robinson Center for Climate and Environmental Policy, told the DCNF.

The Department of Energy (DOE) warned in its July 7 report that blackouts could increase by a factor of 100 by 2030 if the U.S. keeps retiring power plants without adequate replacements, the grid will be unable to meet the soaring demand from energy-hungry data centers in the coming years. It continued to single out wind and solar as key contributors to declining grid stability and argued that dispatchable generation from sources like coal, oil, gas and nuclear are vital to meet American power needs.

Like it or not, the economy and infrastructure of the globe runs on fossil fuel. Until the free market invents something considerably more reliable and ecologically sound from start to finish, our reliance on fossil fuel will continue. Wind and solar at this time are simply not practical.

Getting On Board With American Energy Independence

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On June 29th, Real Clear Energy posted an article about Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry’s plans to increase energy production in his state.

The article reports:

President Donald J. Trump’s energy plans to promote oil and gas production can reset the world stage, and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is on board. This month he signed into law a bill that prioritizes production of fossil fuels and nuclear power, rather than wind and solar power, in his state.

The new law, Act 462 (formerly HB 692), sponsored by Rep. Jacob Landry (no relation to Gov. Landry), requires the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources to focus on production of domestic fuel, rather than energy sources that rely on foreign countries for materials. The law extends the definition of green energy to nuclear power and natural gas.

This law is so obvious that it is surprising that it needs to be passed at all, especially in Louisiana, which has no requirement to produce electricity from wind and solar power. Rates, at 13 cents per kilowatt hour, are below the U.S. average, but they have risen steadily from 9 cents per kilowatt hour in 2020.

Just to provide some perspective, the cost of a kilowatt hour of electricity in Massachusetts, where there are wind farms, is 33 cents. In New York State it is 26 cents. In Virginia and North Carolina, the cost is 14 cents. States with liberal governments don’t seem to be able to keep electricity prices low.

The article notes:

Lower U.S. electricity prices will reduce manufacturing costs in America, attracting foreign investment and creating jobs. In emerging economies, more support for fossil fueled power plants will lower energy prices.

The U.S. has approximately 1.7 trillion barrels of technically recoverable oil and over 4 quadrillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas resources. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proposed increasing US production by 3 million barrels per year, potentially driving prices below $50 a barrel.

Oil prices below $50 a barrel would be a problem for the Russian economy and could possibly end the Russia-Ukraine War (due to Russia no longer being able to finance it).

The article concludes:

Similarly, the new Louisiana law specifically calls for “minimizing reliance on foreign nations for critical materials or manufacturing by prioritizing infrastructure necessary to deliver energy to Louisiana customers.”

Cheaper energy caused by additional U.S. production and loans for fossil-fuel power plants would also benefit people in emerging economies, especially Africa and Latin America, without reliable electricity and cheap fuel. Lower oil prices empower countries with poor electricity distribution, lowering costs of diesel generators, used by businesses and households.

The federal government is shifting to energy dominance, but states can still stand in the way. Louisiana’s new law provides a model for other states to follow.

Let’s stop depending on China for our energy infrastructure.

More Pinocchios For The White House

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On Tuesday, Breitbart posted an article about the Biden administration’s claim that the biggest driver of American inflation in the war in Ukraine. It is interesting that this claim is coming out as many economists believe that the economic growth numbers that will come out at the end of this month will show that America is in a recession according to the classical definition of the word recession.

The article notes:

Inflation was high and rising long before the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.6 percent in May of 2021 after rising 0.8 percent in April., On an annual basis, prices were up 5.0 percent, the largest 12-month increase since a 5.4-percent increase for the period ending August 2008.

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, was 3.8 percent over the previous 12 months, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending June 1992.

The article concludes:

The biggest factor in the rise of energy prices has been increased global demand and a lack of capital investment. The latter was caused, in part, by ESG investing, Biden’s promise to end fossil fuels, and regulators discouraging fossil fuel production.

Yet inflation is still very high even with energy excluded. Absent energy, the CPI is up 6.6 percent year over year and rose 0.7 percent in May from April. This demonstrates that Putin has very little to do with the bulk of U.S. inflation.

People who normally invest in finding oil are being very cautious right now. Banks have slowed lending to oil companies for exploration because the government is not allowing the exploration needed to keep America energy independent. The first step toward ending inflation would be open up drilling (and the necessary pipelines) to keep the income from the energy market in America. The next step would be removing at least one in three government regulations on business and people trying to start businesses. Don’t look for either solution under the Biden administration.

 

When Actions And Words Do Not Match Up

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Gasoline prices in America have risen significantly in the past eleven months. America is not longer energy independent. Partially because of the increased cost of gasoline, Americans are paying more for everything right now. President Biden has said that he is concerned. But what is he going to do about it?

The American Thinker posted an article today titled, “Joe Isuzu Biden: Concern-trolling high energy prices to voters — and working on the sly to raise them higher.”

The article reports:

Joe Biden has repeatedly claimed that high energy prices, including soaring prices at the pump, are some kind of priority for him. He’s made loud noises for the cameras about a couple of piddly measures of his to cut energy costs for consumers, which would at best be temporary and at worst, useless. But out on the sly, he’s stepping up his war on Big Oil, something he doesn’t want you to know about, which will raise energy prices. He’s still Creepy Joe.

The White House has stated in a press release that President Biden is doing everything he can to lower the cost of fuel for Americans. President Biden’s actions paint a different picture.

The article includes the following:

…from Axios:

Oil and gas companies should pay more to drill on federal lands and waters, the Department of the Interior argued in a report released Friday, saying that the current rates were “outdated.”

Driving the news: The Department of Interior report said that the federal government’s oil and gas leasing and permitting program “fails to provide a fair return to taxpayers, even before factoring in the resulting climate-related costs that must be borne by taxpayers.

Note “the resulting climate-related costs that must be borne by taxpayers.” Climate change is not proven science. Why should the taxpayers be forced to pick up the tab for a theory?

The article continues:

Axios yaks a lot about the federal rate being lower than some private rates, but forgets that much of federal land for lease is utterly undeveloped, with zero roads, zero electricity, zero satellite transmission, zero internet, zero water, the works. The other thing is that many of these unexplored federal lands are pretty speculative. A rate would be high and would find a buyer were an oil company to be fairly sure it would get a good return on its investment, meaning, it knew the oil was there and waiting. With many federal lands, that’s pretty speculative, which would explain low rates.

The report cited was released on the Friday after Thanksgiving, a classic ‘Friday night news dump’ as they say, done with hopes that voters would not notice. An analyst cited by Axios noticed, however:

    • “This approach could still significantly curtail future federal oil and gas production activity while remaining consistent with existing laws,” a note from research firm ClearView Energy Partners said.

The article concludes:

Biden is saying one thing, and doing another. Anyone with a brain can see that taxing energy companies at higher rates is going to have fewer companies taking chances. Anyone with a lick of common sense can surmise that shutting down pipelines is going to mean less energy and higher prices at the pump. Joe is hoping you don’t see that as he throws out his shiny strategic reserve bauble to distract you. Anyone with any degree of mental sharpness can see that Joe Isuzu is a three-card monte operator telling voters the sky is green and hoping they’ll be easy marks for it, believing him against the evidence of their own eyes. He seems to think we’re stupid.

Please follow the link to the article for further details. The difference between what the Biden administration is doing and what the Biden administration says it is doing is the reason people hate politicians.

Spin Instead Of Solutions

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I am not a big fan of the current gasoline prices. I doubt anyone is. How in the world did we go from being energy independent to sky-high gasoline prices? Well, it might have started with the shutdown of the Keystone XL Pipeline on day one of the Biden administration.

Yesterday The Daily Caller posted an article about the Biden administration’s current excuse for high gasoline prices.

The article reports:

President Joe Biden claimed Tuesday that gas prices have skyrocketed due to Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) refusing to “pump more oil.”

Biden delivered his remarks during the United Nations climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, where he was asked to comment on when Americans could expect to see everyday prices come down, including those of gas.

When America was energy independent, we didn’t have to worry about the output of Russia or OPEC.

The article notes:

Despite his decisions to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and impose a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing and drilling permits for U.S. lands and waters, the president has accused OPEC of being unwilling to significantly ramp up their production of oil to combat rising gasoline prices.

“[T]he idea that Russia and Saudi Arabia and other major producers are not going to pump more oil so people can have gasoline to get to and from work, for example, is not right,” Biden said Sunday at the G20 summit.

Many OPEC members have shunned Biden’s pleas, arguing that they shouldn’t produce oil at a faster rate due to the uncertainties associated with the pandemic, according to Al Jazeera.

U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report mid-October, forecasting that American households could see their energy expenditures go up as high as 54% compared to the winter of 2021.

Gasoline prices are not going down until American voters wake up and remove the current administration (and their congressional allies) from power. We can begin in 2022 by voting for conservatives for Congress and continue by re-electing President Trump in 2024. If you want to see gasoline prices go back down, that is the solution.