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DAILY ENERGY NEWS  | 03/26/2024
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Big Green, Inc. went from "no one is banning your gas stoves" to "it's good they are banning your gas stoves" to "how dare the courts block our illegal gas stove ban."


Sacramento Bee (3/25/24) reports: "The City of Berkeley has settled a lawsuit by the California Restaurant Association to repeal that city’s first-in-the-nation ban on gas hookups in new construction, dealing a final blow to more than a hundred similar measures in California cities including Sacramento. Berkeley’s 2019 gas ban became a cornerstone in a national battle over the future of fossil gas in buildings as dozens of other municipal and county governments followed suit — including Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles. The Friday announcement comes after a federal appeals court declined to rehear the case on Berkeley’s ordinance that a panel of judges struck down last year for preempting federal energy law. In a press release, the Sacramento-based California Restaurant Association said Berkeley will take steps to formally repeal the ordinance as part of the settlement. Until the city repeals the measure in its legislative process, it will not enforce the measure...When Berkeley passed its first-in-the-nation ban on gas hookups for most new buildings in July 2019, dozens of cities followed. At least 76 California cities passed similar ordinances by the start of 2023...Matt Vespa, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, said California is still on track to cleaner, healthier homes. The state, he noted, recently committed to ensuring that heat pumps make up 65% of residential heating and cooling sales by 2030. 'The City of Berkeley deserves a lot of credit for acting quickly in 2019 to protect its residents from health-harming air pollution from gas appliances,' Vespa said. 'While it’s disappointing to see today’s news, it should always be remembered that SoCalGas helped bankroll the law firm representing the California Restaurant Association in this fight.'"

"Electricity prices are soaring across the country because utilities are shutting down low-cost, depreciated power plants that provide the most reliable and affordable electricity to the families and businesses that rely upon it. Ratepayers would benefit most from the continued operation of these existing power plants, but the onslaught of state policies mandating carbon-free electricity, federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, and the current incentive structure of monopoly utilities mean many, if not most, of these power plants will be shut down in the coming decades." 

 

– Isaac Orr,
Center of the American Experiment

Mama Mia!  They're coming after the carbonara in your pasta!


E&E News (3/25/24) reports: "The Biden administration is launching a shift in climate policy Monday with the awarding of $6 billion in grants to decarbonize the industrial sector with money going to a macaroni plant in Illinois and a blast furnace in Ohio. Cutting the carbon emissions of industry, particularly cement and steel, have long been viewed as an essential piece of reducing U.S. contributions to climate change. Three years into his presidency, President Joe Biden has centered climate policy on cutting transportation and power plant emissions. The Department of Energy is giving out $6 billion for projects that aim to demonstrate how to cut the carbon emissions of cement, steel, iron and other industries that account for about a third of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm called it the 'single largest industrial decarbonization investment in American history.'"

Neither hail, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night. Oh, nevermind…

When energy is the lifeblood of modern society life finds a way.


Bloomberg (3/26/24) reports: "Private credit managers are doing significantly more fossil-fuel deals now than just a few years ago, as they step into a void left by banks exiting assets they worry pose too big a climate risk. The value of private credit deals in the oil and gas industry topped $9 billion in the 24 months through 2023, up from $450 million arranged in the preceding two years, according to data provided by Preqin, an analytics company that tracks the alternative investment industry. That’s based on the limited pool of deals reported publicly or disclosed directly to Preqin. The figures offer the clearest signal yet that fossil-fuel exclusion policies among banks — driven by regulatory and reputational concerns — are shifting some oil, gas and coal assets to less transparent corners of the market. It’s a trend that investors say is only going to increase in the coming years.,,The shift is particularly pronounced among banks based in Europe, where climate regulations are stricter than in other jurisdictions. Lenders stepping up restrictions on fossil-fuel loans include BNP Paribas SA and ING Group NV. The trend is hardest felt by less diversified mid-sized companies with weaker environmental, social and governance policies, according to Dunfield."

Energy Markets

 
WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $82.02
Natural Gas: ↑ $1.63
Gasoline: ↑ $3.53
Diesel: ↑ $4.05
Heating Oil: ↓ $264.57
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $86.66
US Rig Count: ↓ 638

 

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