Debating the debate

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 08/25/2023

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What was said, and what was unsaid. Tom and Mike debate the debate, and more, on this week's episode of The Unregulated Podcast. Now streaming on our website, or wherever you listen.

"Ordinary citizens worldwide are realizing that California-style mandates lead to disaster. Opposition to banning gas stoves and water heaters, forcing adoption of heat pumps, shutting off air conditioners, and other diktats is burgeoning. The Wall Street Journal has even reported that the electric vehicle bubble is starting to deflate."

– Duggan Flanakin,
Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow

This is Bidenomics.

Bloomberg (8/24/23) reports: "American politicians are keener than ever to juice the economy with government cash, a shift that’s already helping to drive up borrowing costs and looks likely to keep them high long after the inflation emergency is over. The outlook for the federal budget right now is essentially unprecedented—crisis-size deficits as far as the eye can see, even though the economy appears to be in good health. That prospect is making investors uneasy, as demonstrated by yields on benchmark 10-year Treasuries climbing above 4.3% this week, their highest levels since 2007. Other borrowing costs are rising in tandem: The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has surged above 7% for the first time in more than two decades. Investors worry that sustained fiscal shortfalls on the scale projected by the Congressional Budget Office could push rates higher still—which only puts more pressure on public finances by adding to the government’s ballooning interest bills. Concerns intensified this month after a one-two punch: The US Treasury ramped up debt issuance, heralding a supply deluge that’s likely to last several quarters, and Fitch Ratings unexpectedly downgraded America’s sovereign credit rating."

Why be mineral independent when Big Green, Inc. can rely on child labor in the third world?

Daily Caller (8/24/23) reports: "In order to facilitate electric vehicle (EV) production, the U.S. is seeking to spend taxpayer dollars to develop cobalt supply chains from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a country which is known for high prevalence of unsafe child labor in its mines, many of which are controlled by Chinese interests, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Labor (DOL) are jointly committing $23 million in taxpayer funds to U.S. firms and other mining companies to integrate local Congolese operations and “artisanal” mines into their supply chains, as well as to improve labor standards for miners in the DRC, which are essentially nonexistent in most cases, according to the WSJ. Chinese-controlled interests dominate the DRC’s cobalt industry, refining about 75% of the global cobalt supply and manufacturing approximately 70% of the world’s lithium-ion batteries, which are cobalt-intensive products that power EVs. Cobalt is one of the key materials needed to build batteries for EVs, a technology which the Biden administration is pursuing aggressively as a pillar of its sweeping climate agenda, according to the Cobalt Institute. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed stringent new tailpipe emissions standards in April which would effectively require American automobile manufacturers to have their new fleets be 67% EVs after model year 2032, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration unveiled a proposal to update the Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements that would, if finalized, amount to 'an EV mandate,' Dan Kish, senior fellow for the Institute for Energy Research, told the Daily Caller News Foundation at the time."

Green energy needs a lot.

Cowboy State Daily (8/24/23) reports: "Wyomingites came out in force Thursday to tell the Wyoming Public Service Commission (PSC) they’re outraged at renewable energy policies they say are driving up electricity costs. Rocky Mountain Power, the state’s largest utility, requested the PSC approve two rate increases that combined will result in a more than 30% increase to electricity bills for Wyoming residents and businesses. The PSC held a public input session in Capser to get feedback from public officials and residents on the proposed increase. Wyomingites eager to voice their thoughts on the increase packed a room at the Thyra Thomson State Office Building in Casper. PSC Commissioner Mary Throne apologized there wasn’t a larger room, and a separate spillover area had to be set up to make room for it. Rep. Jon Conrad, R-Mountain View, said that one of the main reasons the utility wants the increase is that it doesn’t have enough power to supply itscustomers. Because the company is relying more extensively on intermittent energy from wind and solar, it has to buy power on the market. 'Wyoming is paying for the demise of coal-fired generation. That is the mineral that built this state,' Conrad said. Rep. Clark Stith, R-Rock Springs, said the increases are due to a 'radical left-wing agenda.' The company decided to invest heavily in unreliable energy rather than baseload power, such as coal and natural gas. 'That was a management decision. They made that choice,' Stith said."

If you oppose a carbon tax, take a stand and contact us.

Tom Pyle, American Energy Alliance

Myron Ebell, Competitive Enterprise Institute

Phil Kerpen, American Commitment

Andrew Quinlan, Center for Freedom and Prosperity

Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform

George Landrith, Frontiers of Freedom

Thomas Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste

Richard Manning, Americans for Limited Government

Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks

Craig Richardson, E&E Legal

Benjamin Zycher, American Enterprise Institute
Jason Hayes, Mackinac Center
David Williams, Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Paul Gessing, Rio Grande Foundation
Seton Motley, Less Government
Annette Meeks, Freedom Foundation of Minnesota
Isaac Orr, Center of the American Experiment
David T. Stevenson, Caesar Rodney Institute
John Droz, Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions
Jim Karahalios, Axe the Carbon Tax
Mark Mathis, Clear Energy Alliance
Jack Ekstrom, PolicyWorks America
Jon Sanders, John Locke Foundation

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $79.85
Natural Gas: ↓ $2.47
Gasoline: ↓ $3.82

Diesel: ↓ $4.36
Heating Oil: ↓ $319.43
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $84.11
US Rig Count: ↓ 667

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