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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 05/24/2023

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If you don't want federal dollars going to China, don't mandate the adoption of products produced by Chinese front companies. 🤷

E&E News (5/24/23) reports: "The Department of Energy’s decision to halt a contentious grant award to a battery company with ties to China is fueling new concerns on Capitol Hill over agency transparency and oversight. On Monday night, the agency announced it would not dole out a $200 million proposed grant to Microvast Holdings Inc., a lithium-ion battery company that is planning a manufacturing facility in Tennessee, seven months after the award was tentatively approved. Lawmakers across the political spectrum applauded the final decision, but said they remained concerned with the agency’s vetting and lack of transparency in its decision to scrap the Microvast grant. Republican witnesses at the E&C subcommittee hearing Tuesday warned that China could exert influence over the EV battery plant and even pull its proprietary information. Diana Furchtgott-Roth, who directs the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, asserted at the hearing that Ford is “subservient” to CATL and therefore China, which has 'a tremendous amount of power.' Kenny Stein, vice president for policy at the Institute for Energy Research, said CATL is a 'Chinese company that really runs that plant' and concurred that China could pull out of the deal at any time, taking its technology with it. Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona at one point asked her Democratic colleagues to consider reforms to the Inflation Reduction Act to ensure companies like Ford, should they partner with Chinese companies, not be able to benefit from tax credits under the law."

"Beyond the difficulties that drivers without a driveway or garage may face in charging their EVs at home, there are the difficulties associated with finding a charger on the road. A range of several hundred miles may, to some, sound impressive, but it won’t do a driver much good if, at the end of those 200 miles, there’s nothing there."

– Andrew Stuttaford,
National Review

Even with billions in handouts, Big Wind still relies on diesel at the end of the day.

Granite Gork (5/23/23) reports: "Aside from the hundreds of billions in misguided government support, wind power doesn’t have much going for it. It is not clean or green. It kills bats, birds, and now whales. And in Scotland, they’ve had to admit that without diesel generators to warm and back up the turbines, they might work at all. 'Scottish Power admitted 71 of its windmills were hooked up to the fossil fuel supply after a fault developed on the grid. The firm said it was forced to act in order to keep the turbines warm during very cold weather in December. But a whistleblower has told the Sunday Mail the incident is among a number of environmental and health and safety failings.' But wait! There’s More! 'The worker said: “During December 60 turbines at Arecleoch and 11 at Glenn App were de-energised due to a cabling fault originating at Mark Hill wind farm. In order to get these turbines re-energised diesel generators were running for upwards of six hours a day.'... Who among us dares to suggest that these concerns are more common than advertised everywhere wind frames are 'planted' and have been for a very long time? From the Institute for Energy Research (2015). 'On October 4, the United Kingdom’s wind turbines produced almost zero electricity during the early morning hours. The UK has over 9,000 megawatts of metered wind capacity, but during that period on October 4, wind provided 66 megawatts—just 0.7 percet Many of these turbines are located either offshore or in the Scottish highlands, where wind is supposed to be the strongest. Because of the unreliability of these wind turbines (and solar farms), the UK government is subsidizing diesel generators over $670 million to provide back-up power.'"

Germans seem to have a real penchant for creeping totalitarianism. You've heard of the Gestapo and the Stasi, but what will they name the green police?

Apparently, Biden doesn't think copper is critical for his "Electrify Everything" agenda.

Mining.com (5/23/23) reports: "The US Geological Survey (USGS) has told congressmen and senators that copper has not reached the status of critical minerals needed to be added to the official list of commodities at risk of undersupply, the Copper Development Association (CDA) said. The USGS decision comes despite some high-ranking political allies throwing their support behind the local copper sector. The director of the government agency, David Applegate, told Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in an April 13 letter and Republican Rep. Bob Latta on May 1 that vulnerabilities in the nation’s copper supplies are reduced by domestic resources, trade deals and other supplies. The copper marketing body also said the metal’s supply risk score is now above the threshold for automatic inclusion on the 2022 Critical Minerals list. It adds the USGG quoted misleading arguments that were not part of its own official 2022 methodology, to justify its decision. 'Unlike in Europe, where copper was recently added to its proposed Critical Raw Material and Strategic Raw Material lists based on forecasting future supply and demand projections, USGS addresses supply risk with a rearward looking analysis,' the CDA said."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $74.45
Natural Gas: ↑ $2.39
Gasoline: ↑ $3.56

Diesel: ↑ $3.98
Heating Oil: ↑ $240.86
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $78.42
US Rig Count: ↑ 749

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