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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 01/23/2024
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** You have to hand it to them - they never give in, never, never, never, never...
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Chicago Tribune ([link removed]) ([link removed]) (1/19/24) reports: "An ordinance that would fight climate change by effectively banning the use of natural gas in most new buildings is headed to the Chicago City Council. The Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance will be introduced Wednesday, according to Ald. Maria Hadden, a sponsor of the measure. The ordinance sets an emissions standard that natural gas can’t meet and opens the way for the electric heat and appliances that play a key role in most plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions and avert the worst effects of climate change. 'This is a matter of real survival and the future of our city — and especially our economic future,' said Hadden...Peoples Gas, the natural gas utility that serves Chicago, issued a statement saying, 'We believe this proposed ordinance is a terrible idea for Chicago. It would increase costs and risk reliability for everyone, especially during the
coldest days of the year like we are seeing this week.' The statement went on to say that making homes use all-electric heat would cost Chicagoans two times more than they would pay for natural gas, and emissions might go up because renewables still provide less than 4% of the electricity used in Chicago on any given day."
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** "For all of us, energy is a central part of every day, all but taken for granted as it underpins our economy, our lives and our future. Energy should not be a partisan issue, especially when higher prices affect us first through our bills and second, when those costs are passed on to us through the goods and services we buy, which drives inflation."
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– David Holt, Consumer Energy Alliance ([link removed])
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The most transparent administration in history is very committed to equal application of the law.
** Fox News ([link removed])
** ([link removed])
(1/15/24) reports: "A Massachusetts wind project, which recently became the first utility-scale offshore wind project to deliver electricity to the grid, wouldn't have been financially viable if the Biden administration hadn't intervened, according to internal documents reviewed by Fox News Digital. Federal officials with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) acknowledged in the unearthed communications shared with Fox News Digital that granting a waiver on development fees designed to safeguard taxpayers was 'critical' for the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project. BOEM ultimately waived the financial assurance for decommissioning costs fee for the project in June 2021. 'The more we dig into the details of the Vineyard Wind project the more concerning it becomes. The Biden administration brags that this is the first utility-scale offshore wind project. But clearly, without BOEM contorting the approval process and waiving requirements meant to protect taxpayers, Vineyard is unlikely to
ever have gotten off the ground,' Michael Chamberlain, the director of watchdog group Protect the Public's Trust (PPT), which obtained the documents, told Fox News Digital...'They've made it very, very clear that they will approve these projects really regardless of anything,' Meghan Lapp, the fisheries liaison for Rhode Island-based fishing company Seafreeze, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 'They don't care about the impacts to fishing communities,' she added. 'They don't care about the impacts to coastal communities. They don't care about the impacts to marine mammals. Even though there's a lot of regulation on all of these other things and all of those other spheres, offshore wind gets a pass.'"
The Davos crowd says this is how you should fly in the future....
** ([link removed])
Meanwhile, this is how the Davos crowd flies....
** Wall Street Journal ([link removed])
(1/16/24) reports: "One of the flashiest executive perks has roared back since the onset of the pandemic: free personal travel on the company jet. Companies in the S&P 500 spent $65 million for executives to use corporate jets for personal travel in 2022, up about 50% from prepandemic levels three years earlier, a Wall Street Journal analysis found. Early signs suggest the trend continued last year. Overall, the number of big companies providing the perk rose about 14% since 2019, to 216 in 2022, figures from executive-data firm Equilar show. The number of executives receiving free flights grew nearly 25%, to 427. Most companies report executive pay and perks in the spring. Meta Platforms spent $6.6 million in 2022 on personal flights for Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and his then-lieutenant, Sheryl Sandberg—up about 55% from 2019, the Journal found. Casino company Las Vegas Sands spent $3.2 million on flights for four executives, more than double its annual expense in any year since
2015. Exelon, which owns Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison utility, more than tripled its spending on the perk since 2019...Companies that provided the perk already in 2019 accounted for most of the recent growth in spending, the Journal found. Meta, for example, spent nearly $11 million on Zuckerberg and Sandberg’s personal flights from 2015 through 2019, and a further $13.3 million over the next three years. Zuckerberg’s company-paid travel included trips on an aircraft he owns, which Meta charters for business, paying $523,000 in 2022. The Facebook owner stopped paying for Sandberg’s personal flights when she stepped down as a company employee in September 2022. She remains on Meta’s board.Spokesmen for Meta and Sandberg declined to comment beyond Meta’s securities disclosures."
Remind me again why if this stuff is so great it needs billions in federal subsidies.
** Daily Caller ([link removed])
(1/21/24) reports: "The Biden administration has designated billions of taxpayer dollars to build electric vehicle (EV) chargers, but lagging market demand and government red tape are getting in the way, according to experts who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced Thursday that it was awarding $150 million to upgrade existing public EV chargers, just one week after announcing another $623 million in subsidies to states to bolster EV charger construction...The requirement for certification or union recognition for the electricians working on the chargers limits the number of available workers to take up the installations, leading to a smaller number of workers being paid more, Dan Kish, a senior research fellow for the Institute for Energy Research, told the DCNF. 'The union probably isn’t going to look kindly upon certifying electricians who aren’t members of the union,' Kish told the DCNF. 'So, you got paperwork there; you’ve got
paperwork with environmental injustice, which means that they’re putting it in places where the economy is depressed, and the states are supposed to come up with areas that meet these criteria.'...Many have also raised concerns about the EV charging stations’ reliability, with drivers in Chicago in January being unable to charge their EVs due to the frigid temperatures. The Biden administration has previously dismissed concerns that battery performance for EVs was severely affected by cold weather. 'They’re basically bumping up against the realities of what it’s like to have things done in the real world, as opposed to, you know, from a big office someplace in Washington, DC, where you think you can just issue edicts to people,' Kish told the DCNF."
Energy Markets
WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $73.93
Natural Gas: ↓ $2.36
Gasoline: ↑ $3.08
Diesel: ↑ $3.91
Heating Oil: ↓ $266.63
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $79.18
** US Rig Count ([link removed])
: ↓ 64415
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