Take Biden's Corvette first

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 04/12/2023

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Requiring two-thirds of car sales to be EVs by 2032 is neither legal nor physically possible. Not that it matters to Team Biden.

Detroit News (4/12/23) reports: "The Biden administration on Wednesday is unveiling the "strongest ever" tailpipe emissions standards that are expected to push automakers to accelerate the proportion of electric vehicles in their U.S. sales to 67% by 2032. The proposed rules by the Environmental Protection Agency, which govern greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants from light-duty vehicles such as cars, trucks and SUVs, call for a 56% reduction for the applicable model years 2027 to 2032. The EPA projects that by 2055, the rules would remove nearly 10 billion tons of carbon emissions — equal to twice the total U.S. carbon emissions in 2022 — reducing fine particulate matter in the air that can have negative health effects and potentially saving up to $1.6 trillion. EPA Administrator Michael Regan, in a virtual briefing ahead of a news conference on Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C., called the targets, which will undergo a public comment period before being finalized, "ambitious." In August 2021, President Joe Biden had set a goal for half of new U.S. vehicle sales to be all-electric by 2030. Now, the new standard suggests EV penetration would be at 60% by 2030 to meet the proposed standards."

"Automakers are still losing money in their quest to build all-EV fleets. Ford reported that its U.S. EV business had losses totaling $2.1 billion, a figure expected to rise to $3 billion in 2023. Ford finance chief John Lawler said it was normal for a startup to rack up losses, but if people have alternatives, not even the Inflation Reduction Act subsidies may be sufficient to turn car loving Americans into passive drivers of vehicles they cannot repair."

– Duggan Flanakin,
Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow

The income limitation doesn't apply to leases. In other words, CAFE now stands for "Cars Are For Elites."

AFF (4/12/23) article: "The Inflation Reduction Act (the IRA that is neither a saving vehicle nor a paramilitary organization) contained a $7,500 refundable tax credit (aka, cash) for the purchase of clean energy vehicles. The design was straightforward protectionist industrial policy that violated U.S. commitments under the World Trade Organization because the IRA’s domestic content requirements for electric vehicle (EV) and battery production openly discriminate against our trading partners. Weirdly, this totally irked said trading partners who have complained loudly to the administration and begun retaliatory subsidies of their own. It also limited the number of eligible vehicles, which offended certain domestic interests. So, as nicely explained by Tori Smith, the Biden Administration got busy. First, it announced a new critical minerals (used to make batteries) agreement with Japan. Three days later, the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service released long-awaited guidance and a notice of proposed rulemaking, respectively, that indicated that this agreement was actually a “free trade agreement” and that any such new executive agreements negotiated by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) would make countries eligible to participate in the critical mineral and battery supply chains under the IRA. Protectionist disease solved!"

Going green by turning the seas red.

We commoners just don't understand. Zero-transparency is the only way to conduct high-level statecraft for someone like Special K.

Fox News (4/6/23) reports: "Multiple top officials within Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) John Kerry's office engaged in a discussion about keeping certain budgetary items 'off paper,' according to recently-released documents. During a March 2022 email exchange — involving Deputy Climate Envoys Sue Biniaz and Rick Duke, former SPEC senior director for climate finance Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, senior adviser Jesse Young and nine other SPEC officials whose names were redacted — aides discussed how they would brief Kerry on the office's proposed budget for fiscal year 2023. The emails, obtained via records request by watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) and shared with Fox News Digital, shed additional light on the internal deliberations in Kerry's climate office. The SPEC office, which is housed in the State Department, has been notably tight-lipped about its operations and doesn't publicly disclose its members. 'I would also suggest a call or meeting soon with jk to update him on FY22 and 23, focusing on all the elements we can’t put on paper,' Martinez-Diaz told the other officials in a March 9, 2022, email."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $82.60
Natural Gas: ↑ $2.19
Gasoline: ↑ $3.62

Diesel: ↑ $4.20
Heating Oil: ↑ $268.62
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $86.77
US Rig Count: ↓ 807

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