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MORNING ENERGY NEWS | 03/17/2020
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** Some day the historians are going to study the federal RFS and conclude that it was the dumbest government program ever created by any government anywhere.
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Law 360 ([link removed]) (3/16/20) reports: "A federal jury in Salt Lake City on Monday convicted Los Angeles businessman Lev Dermen on money laundering-related offenses in a sprawling $511 million tax fraud case accusing him of masterminding a multistate fraud to pass off fake biofuels to reap federal incentives, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The verdict came back as a mistrial bid was being considered in the case due to the global coronavirus pandemic. Dermen was found guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and expenditure money laundering, among other counts, the DOJ said in a statement Monday evening. Federal prosecutors from Main Justice’s tax division as well as the District of Utah had been squaring off with Dermen since opening arguments on Jan. 30 over charges he led a massive scheme to obtain per-gallon credits for green fuel by rotating biofuel 'precursors' around the country, putting them
down on paper as the real thing at each step of the way to reap the federal incentives."


**

"On the topic of energy, Sunday’s debate showed that there is no daylight between Biden and Sanders."
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– Washington Examiner Editorial Board ([link removed])

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Just one word...

** Bloomberg ([link removed])
(3/15/20) reports: It took one week after the first U.S. case of Covid-19 with no overseas connection for Starbucks Corp. to temporarily ban customers from bringing in reusable coffee mugs. Judith Enck, a former regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, was disappointed. Public health comes first, of course, but as the founder of the grassroots Beyond Plastics project, Enck had her doubts that returning to disposable cups would make anyone safer. Currency, for instance, is a notorious germ-carrier. 'Will Starbucks now stop accepting cash?' she says. These are nervous times for activists working to wean the world off plastics. Until the novel coronavirus started its spread across the globe, 2020 appeared to be a year when meaningful plastic-use restrictions would finally take hold.,,Plastics lobbying groups such as Plastics Industry Association and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) have long defended their products by noting that plastic has played a revolutionary
role in medical care. Single-use surgical gloves, syringes, insulin pens, IV tubes, and catheters, for example, have both reduced the risk of patient infection and helped streamline operations by lifting the burden of sterilization."
** ([link removed])

The road to Hell is paved with inane virtue signaling.

** Wall Street Journal ([link removed])
(3/16/20) column: "New York’s environmentalists have terrible timing. The statewide ban on single-use plastic bags took effect on March 1, the same day New York confirmed its first case of coronavirus. To protect the public, officials in the Empire State and elsewhere should immediately suspend their plastic bag bans. Much remains unknown about Covid-19, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it “may remain viable for hours to days on surfaces made from a variety of materials.” Reusable shopping bags may harbor the virus and could facilitate its spread in grocery stores and pharmacies that remain open even as workplaces, schools and restaurants shutter. Yet in California, New York, Seattle and elsewhere, plastic bags are banned and shoppers are urged to rely on reusable bags. Experience shows the risks. In 2013 millions of American piglets died amid an outbreak of novel swine enteric coronavirus disease, and after an investigation the U.S. Department of
Agricultureconcluded that reusable feed totes were the most likely root cause. The feed bags are often made of the same kind of material as reusable shopping bags."

One less thing to worry about.

** The Hill ([link removed])
(3/16/20) reports: "Environmental pollution and smoking could exacerbate the effects of the coronavirus, some experts have warned. Although no large-scale studies have been conducted on the connection or lack thereof, some environmental experts have pointed out that lung damage caused by pollutants has been linked to increased risk of viral respiratory tract infection, The Washington Post reported. 'Given what we know now, it is very likely that people who are exposed to more air pollution and who are smoking tobacco products are going to fare worse if infected with covid than those who are breathing cleaner air, and who don’t smoke,' Aaron Bernstein, the interim director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told the Post."
** ([link removed])

Still think relying on wind power is a good idea?

** ([link removed])

Energy Markets


WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $28.91
Natural Gas: ↓ $1.80
Gasoline: ↓ $2.23

Diesel: ↓ $2.73
Heating Oil: ↑ $105.74
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $29.88
** US Rig Count ([link removed])
: ↓ 810



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