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MORNING ENERGY NEWS  |  03/09/2020
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We would prefer the whole enchilada, but this will be an interesting debate...


Epoch Times (3/8/20) reports: "Republican Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Mike Braun of Indiana are proposing to limit the federal tax credit for electric vehicles (EVs) to those costing $45,000 or less and end the subsidy entirely for affluent buyers...The Ernst/Braun proposals come as congressional Democrats renew their efforts to extend the EV tax credit, and the American Energy Alliance (AEA), which opposes it, begins a new social media advertising campaign with messages similar to the arguments made by the two senators. 'The AEA has repeatedly reminded lawmakers that 78.7 percent of the EV tax credits went to households with an adjusted gross income of $100,000 or higher, and more than half went to households with an adjusted gross income of more than $200,000,' the advocacy group said in a March 5 statement announcing the campaign. 'The AEA has also done extensive public polling on EV subsidies and identified a clear theme—a majority of Americans don’t believe taxpayers’ money should go towards paying for other peoples’ cars. Voters’ sentiments against paying for others’ electric vehicles especially sharpen when they learn nearly 50 percent of all subsidies are going to California.'"



"I want to set the story straight on what's occurring with this industry. It is disruptive technology; not since Jonas Salk has this region been able to deliver as positive of a step change to society as what it's been able to do with natural gas."

 

–Nick Deluliis, CNX Resources

Born with a subsidized silver spoon in their mouth, big wind decides it doesn't like it when they get treated like everyone else.


E&E News (3/6/20) reports: "Offshore wind companies are beefing up their presence on K Street as the Trump administration sidesteps and delays federal reviews of sprawling projects off the East Coast. At least two dozen companies and associations are lobbying the federal government on offshore wind policy as of the end of 2019, either by themselves or through at least 18 lobbying firms, an E&E News analysis of disclosures filed with Congress shows. The companies include developers, utilities and suppliers, along with environmental and public health groups that see offshore wind as a worthwhile clean energy source. Anthony Logan, an offshore wind market research analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said it makes sense for companies to be looking for lobbying help now. 'Everything seemed like it was smooth, and there was a process, and the policy — at least from the federal government — was minimal, and that was a good thing,' he said. 'And then, all of the sudden, having the additional study, that threw everyone on their back foot and made them realize they have to be more proactive.'"

Drain The Swamp....Bigger Pumps.


Wall Street Journal (3/8/20) reports: "Democrats have declared in no uncertain terms they want to kill the coal industry. They are receiving help from the Federal Trade Commission, which has blocked a joint venture between Arch Coal and Peabody Energy. Arch and Peabody last summer announced plans to combine assets in Wyoming’s South Powder River Basin to improve efficiency. Coal’s share of U.S. electric generation has plunged to 24% from 48% in 2008. While more regulation is one culprit, utilities have also been replacing coal with cheap natural gas and renewables...Hence their plan last summer to share equipment, warehousing, rail transportation and profits, which they claimed would improve 'the competitiveness of coal against natural gas and renewables, while creating substantial value for customers and shareholders.' Don’t they know coal isn’t supposed to exist? That may happen sooner if the FTC has its way. The commission in late February filed a complaint to block the joint venture. A 'single producer,' the FTC says, would have 'a greater incentive and ability to reduce output or increase prices.' If Arch and Peabody decide to reduce production, the FTC says their smaller competitors could not compensate and power plants would be stranded."

A whole new take on state’s rights.


Denver Post (3/8/20) reports: "Wyoming is weighing a massive land and mineral rights purchase that could give it a piece of Colorado — actually, a lot of little pieces — along with a big straw to dip into the state’s oil and gas reserves. And legal experts say there probably isn’t much Colorado can do to block that from happening. Welcome to a different kind of border war, one that isn’t about the annual football rivalry between Colorado State University and the University of Wyoming. Wyoming is seriously considering what...Wyoming is seriously considering what one lawmaker there described as the largest governmental land purchase the country has seen since Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. in 1867, according to reports in WyoFile and other media outlets. The purchase involves 1 million acres of land and 4 million acres of mineral rights now owned by Occidental Petroleum, which has had them on the market since October. Occidental has not said what the purchase price would be, but it’ would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. 'It is unusual that a state would buy mineral resources at all, and that they would buy these resources in another state,' said Mark Squillace, an expert on natural resource law at the University of Colorado Boulder."

Who’s greener? Mine fight pits electric cars against flower power.


Associated Press (3/7/20) reports: "The rare Tiehm’s buckwheat stands less than a foot tall (30 centimeters) in Nevada’s rocky high desert, its thin, leafless stems adorned with tiny yellow flowers in spring. To the Australian company that wants to mine lithium beneath the federal land where it grows, the perennial herb is a potential roadblock to a metal badly needed for electric vehicles and the global push to reduce greenhouse gases. To environmentalists determined to halt the open pit mine, it’s a precious species that exists nowhere else in the world.  to plant ecologists, it’s a scientific challenge to try to grow the wildflower from seeds in a greenhouse. Whose mission is a nobler shade of green depends on who you ask. The competing interests appeared to find some common ground earlier this year at the remote site about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Reno. Ioneer Ltd. has spent millions exploring the site, which it says is one of the world’s biggest undeveloped lithium-boron deposits."

Energy Markets

 
WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $32.86
Natural Gas: ↑ $1.72
Gasoline: ↓ $2.38
Diesel: ↓ $2.81
Heating Oil: ↓ $118.61
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $35.81
US Rig Count: ↑ 816

 
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