"A solid rationale"

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MORNING ENERGY NEWS | 04/15/2020

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The Greens can moan and the MSM can whine, but EPA Administrator Wheeler's decison is prudent and wise. America's air is cleaner than at any time in the modern era and it is not because of the coronavirus.

Bloomberg (4/15/20) reports: "The EPA’s refusal to strengthen airborne particle pollution standards is likely to prompt a legal clash over how the agency should handle conflicting recommendations from its scientific experts and other advisers, lawyers say. Administrator Andrew Wheeler said yesterday the Environmental Protection Agency would maintain existing thresholds for airborne particle pollution, including soot, which is released from fossil fuel combustion and linked to cardiac and respiratory illnesses. The agency’s team of outside clean air advisers in December recommended keeping the 2012 standards unchanged. But agency staff and former science advisers have repeatedly argued that the existing standards don’t adequately protect human health. If the EPA locks in the decision to keep the current standards intact—which Wheeler says he aims to do by year’s end—environmental and public health groups are expected to go to court to push for stronger protections. The Clean Air Act gives Wheeler discretion to make the final decision, but the agency must give a solid rationale for its decision, said University of Pennsylvania law professor Cary Coglianese."

"We know that air pollution makes it more likely that people are going to die from the coronavirus. So I want to change the way we fuel our society...And that is about a health recovery package as well as climate policy. So I think that [ the Green New Deal] very much could be on the agenda."

– Leah Stokes,
University of California, Santa Barbara

"The hardest thing I think in my life is to sit back and do nothing, and yet that is sometimes what is needed."

Reuters (4/14/20) reports: "Texas energy regulators listened as top executives on Tuesday debated whether the state should cut oil output by 1 million barrels per day, but did not indicate how they might vote after more than 10 hours of sometimes dire testimony. Oil and gas companies are gushing red ink and cutting tens of thousands of workers as oil prices tumble, prompting regulators in the largest U.S. oil-producing state to wade into global oil politics and consider the calls for cuts. U.S. crude oil prices CLc1 fell during the hearing to under $20 a barrel at one point, a nearly 18-year low. While the federal government has little power to influence oil production, many state regulators like the Texas Railroad Commission have powers that can include limiting production across the state...At least two votes on the three-member Texas Railroad Commission are needed to pass the proposal. Commissioner Ryan Sitton has pushed for evaluating statewide cuts. Wayne Christian and Christi Craddick, have been careful not to reveal how they might vote, though Christian said Tuesday, 'the hardest thing I think in my life is to sit back and do nothing, and yet that is sometimes' what is needed."

They just see this as a test run.

E&E News (4/15/20) reports: "When America's oldest bike shop opened its doors, the Spanish flu was sweeping across New York. More than a century later, the doors of Bellitte Bicycles remain open, even as New York has emerged as an epicenter of the novel coronavirus pandemic...As the coronavirus crisis ravages the country, biking is experiencing a renaissance of sorts, according to data from multiple cities and interviews with half a dozen advocates and urban planners. For biking proponents, the trend is a rare piece of good news amid an otherwise devastating situation for public health and the economy...The trend also comes as a silver lining for environmentalists, who note that the transportation sector represents the country's largest source of planet-warming carbon emissions. Passenger cars account for the bulk of that climate pollution. But with millions of Americans under stay-at-home orders, car traffic has ground to a halt. Social media posts show nearly empty streets in major cities — save for cyclists."

The fantasy world these people live in has horrifying impacts on the real one the rest of us inhabit.

Real Clear Energy (4/14/20) column: "Bernie Sanders may have ended his presidential campaign but his progressive views, especially on energy and the environment, will live on. A whole generation has been taught about the evils of fossil fuels and the threat of climate change. Bernie Sanders doesn’t need to believe it himself. No, he, like all good socialists, needs to make sure others believe it. And they do. A new generation of politicians makes outlandish exclamations like 'the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.' That was uttered by freshman Congressman and Sanders surrogate Alexandria Ocasio Cortez...46,000 English seniors, the greatest generation, who survived the blitz and song 'God Save the Queen' died because they could not afford to heat their homes. England went 'green,' thousands died, and it barely got a mention in the press. Bernie was never asked. Nor was he asked about what the real cost of his green technology would be, and not just to taxpayers, but to individuals"

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $19.64
Natural Gas: ↓ $1.62
Gasoline: ↓ $1.84

Diesel: ↓ $2.49
Heating Oil: ↓ $92.14
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $28.41
US Rig Count: ↓ 553

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