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MORNING ENERGY NEWS  |  06/11/2020
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Stop the great American land grab.


Bloomberg Law (6/10/20) reports: "The Senate voted 79-18 on Wednesday to move forward on the Great American Outdoors Act, inching closer to passing what many consider to be the most significant conservation legislation in a generation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed for cloture on the bill after Wednesday’s vote. A vote on final passage is expected early next week. The bill would permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund at its $900 million annual, authorized level. LWCF funds federal, state, and local conservation projects and land acquisition across the country...A coalition of conservative groups led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the American Energy Alliance sent a letter to senators earlier this week urging them to 'vote for amendments that will improve some of the bill’s more objectionable provisions.' The groups did not take a position on the portion of the bill addressing the parks maintenance backlog. But the group said the LWCF title would bypass the regular appropriations process and add to the federal government’s already vast real estate portfolio. The letter recommended that senators do what they can to 'soften some of the worst impacts of this unfortunate legislation' by incorporating provisions including language that would 'sunset' the LWCF title in five years and make any future federal land acquisition 'contingent upon approval by the relevant state and local governments.'"

“In order to combat the climate crisis and meet our clean energy goals, we must transition away from fossil fuels and change the way gas utilities do business in our state.” 

 

– Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

More proof that solar gets its energy from subsidies, not the sun. 


E&E News (6/11/20) reports: "Illinois went from a solar laggard to one of the hottest U.S. markets thanks to the Future Energy Jobs Act — a sweeping energy law signed in 2016 that is spurring hundreds of millions of dollars of new investment. From urban rooftops to sprawling arrays spanning dozens of acres, the law known as FEJA has sparked more than 2,000 megawatts of solar development, compared with less than 100 MW in 2018, before the policy took hold. But the boom is just as quickly turning to bust due to the one-two punch of COVID-19-related challenges that are slowing both sales and installations and a funding crunch that could starve the industry for years to come. While money remains for some residential projects, Illinois' exponential solar growth is already slowing, prompting installers to cut jobs and putting the state's renewable energy goals further out of reach. Solar advocates said the benefits of Illinois' renewable standard go beyond just generating cleaner electricity. It's also about creating jobs and stimulating investment — a benefit that's needed now more than ever as the state tries to dig out from the economic hole from COVID-19. But that, too, is at risk if solar development is starved of funding, ELPC's Hessel said."

Socialism: When you take over the biggest oil field in the world, but you don't have enough gas to run your tractors.


Bloomberg (6/11/20) reports: "Venezuelan farmer Roberto Latini fears his window to plant this year’s crop is quickly closing. He’d hoped to seed corn, but couldn’t find the fuel to operate his trucks and equipment before the dry season ended. So he set his sights on rice, which can be planted even in heavy rains. Weeks later, fuel is still short and 'as time goes by, it’s getting too late to sow,' Latini said. After seven years of economic collapse, Venezuela’s crisis has entered a troubling new phase. In a nation that’s home to the world’s largest oil reserves, fuel shortages have grown so acute that fields are going bare. Venezuela is now on the verge of famine, the International Crisis Group warns. More than half of the land used to grow vegetables last year won’t be replanted, according to farming federation Fedeagro. Corn production is expected to cover less than a quarter of national demand. And the tightening vice of U.S. sanctions threatens to strangle what little food and oil is getting in from abroad. 'We’ll start to see the consequences of this in the next few months,' Fedeagro President Aquiles Hopkins said. Already, 'we’re eating vegetables that were planted two or three months ago, rice that was sowed six months ago and corn from the previous crop cycle.'"

It turns out simply writing down fantasy fueled climate goals doesn't magically create the technology needed to meet them.


Scientific American (5/10/20) reports: "Most clean energy technologies and sectors worldwide are not advancing enough to meet the temperature goals set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement, according to a new analysis. Of 46 clean energy categories that the International Energy Agency sees as crucial for minimizing the impacts of climate change, only six are 'on track' to meet the target of preventing global average temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius or more, according to IEA’s 'Tracking Clean Energy Progress' report released this week. The report identified energy sectors and technologies 'not on track”'to meet IEA’s Paris-aligned sustainable development scenario (SDS) goals and offered suggestions for how sectors could further reduce emissions—or, in the case of renewable energy technologies, expand their impact in cost-effective ways, said Dave Turk, acting deputy executive director at IEA." 

Energy Markets

 
WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $37.06
Natural Gas: ↑ $1.78
Gasoline: ↑ $2.08
Diesel: ↑ $2.42
Heating Oil: ↓ $111.64
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $39.48
US Rig Count: ↓ 303

 
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