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MORNING ENERGY NEWS | 12/18/2020
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** It's time for Congress to stop chasing windmills.
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Townhall ([link removed]) (12/16/20) reports: "Famed Chicago School economist and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman often said, 'There is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program.' Each year, when it comes time to pass an omnibus spending bill, taxpayers get a firsthand view of just how prophetic Friedman’s words were. This year is no different as Congress negotiates end-of-year spending and a potential COVID relief package. Programs and subsidies that should have gone by the wayside years ago once again find themselves squarely on the table. Such is the case with the production tax credit (PTC) and investment tax credit (ITC) for both the wind and solar industries. The American taxpayer has been burdened enough by the rampant spending of the past year combatting the coronavirus and the deleterious effects of the associated lockdowns. Both the PTCs and ITCs for these industries –
that have long since become mature enough to stand on their own – are sad testaments to government waste. Another troubling provision would potentially mandate 100 percent renewable power. According to the American Energy Alliance, 'The word on the street is that there are negotiations taking place to try and jam a pre-negotiated energy bill into the year-end spending bonanza. AEA obtained a page from the discussion draft that appears to include a provision from the House Green New Deal lite version of energy legislation, H.R. 4447, making is a "Sense of Congress" that calls for 100% of power demand to come from "clean, renewable, or zero-emission" energy sources.' This type of mandate would open the floodgates of taxpayer subsidies and raise energy costs. "


** "When Joe Biden and his cronies tell you paying a new tax will be good for you, they are lying. A carbon tax won’t save the Earth, but it will make average people poorer. No kind of creative accounting can change this fact."
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– H. Sterling Burnett, The Heartland Institute ([link removed])

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Government as bully. (aka actual fascism)

** Wall Street Journal ([link removed])
(12/16/20) column: "Californians pay twice as much for electricity as Nevadans and Oregonians do. In return they get rolling blackouts during heat waves and power cutoffs in windstorms to prevent fires caused by old equipment. So where’s the Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office? Its statutory mandate is 'to obtain the lowest possible rate for service consistent with reliable and safe service levels.' Instead it’s busy trying to banish fossil fuels. The office has teamed up with the Sierra Club against Southern California Gas. The Sierra Club has been pushing cities and the state Energy Commission to ban natural-gas hookups in new buildings. Some three dozen cities have done so. SoCalGas is fighting these bans, as are homebuilders, realtors and commercial real-estate groups, which noted in a public comment to the Energy Commission that 'in a survey conducted just two years ago, over 70% of the respondents indicated they would NOT want a home with an electric stove.'...Enter
the Public Advocates Office. It accuses SoCalGas of illegally spending ratepayer dollars on political advocacy. The office has asked the utility commission to fine the company $379 million....SoCalGas has offered to open up its books to the utility commission for an audit on the condition that its records not be shared with outside groups. Proprietary information could affect trading markets if leaked. Accounting records also include private financial information of consultants and groups that the utility has paid. The Public Advocate has declined the proposal for an independent audit because it wants to share the records with green groups."

If you believe this, then I can get you a great deal on the deed to London Bridge.

** E&E News ([link removed])
(12/18/20) reports: "The U.K.'s efforts to introduce new climate policies and neutralize emissions by 2050 will likely have a 'relatively small' impact on the economy, according to the government. A move to a net-zero economy will create new jobs and opportunities for green industry to flourish, the U.K. Treasury said in a report published yesterday. Policy that's designed well will support innovation and encourage the deployment of new technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen. The government's independent adviser, the Committee on Climate Change, came to a similar conclusion last week that said the net-zero goals may pay for themselves in the opportunities they create. 'Employment opportunities in green industries will emerge, while high-carbon sectors will have to adapt or decline,' the report said. Government should use a variety of policies, including a carbon market to support emissions reduction. Both the Treasury and the CCC are looking at the U.K.'s goal
to slash net output of greenhouse gases to zero by 2050. It was also tasked with analyzing ways to maximize economic growth as the country makes the transition to less polluting industries."

The biggest rip-off North of the border.

** National Post ([link removed])
(12/17/20) reports: "Is it too late for Ontario to get back into cap and trade? It’s far, far less expensive than the gigantic carbon tax the federal government plans to impose on Ontarians. When Ontario’s PC government took over in 2018, it enthusiastically cancelled the Liberals’ cap-and-trade arrangement with Quebec and California. It was costing Ontarians $2 billion a year and producing minimal environmental impact, much of that in California. The Ontario government, so naïve, did not realize then that a poorly conceived faux environmental program could be a relatively inexpensive shield to protect Ontarians from the federal carbon tax. Quebecers were far wiser. While the federal Liberals tell us that it’s essential to have a carbon tax that will rise to $170 a tonne by 2030, Quebec’s cap-and-trade plan, which requires emitters to buy carbon credits, currently equals a carbon price of just $17 a tonne. That’s enough to exempt the province from the federal tax. The lower price of carbon
credits, combined with abundant and inexpensive hydro-electric power, puts Quebec in an excellent position relative to the rest of the country, but particularly Ontario. The carbon tax will try to push Ontarians to use electric power, but power bills are already so expensive that the provincial government artificially reduces power charges by 33 per cent and puts it on the taxpayers’ tab. Adding demand for electricity would use more surplus power, which is good, but it will quickly lead to more reliance on the province’s under-utilized gas fired power plants, which would boost Ontario emissions."

If you oppose a carbon tax, take a stand and ** contact us. (mailto:[email protected])

** ([link removed])

Tom Pyle, American Energy Alliance
Myron Ebell, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Phil Kerpen, American Commitment
Andrew Quinlan, Center for Freedom and Prosperity
Tim Phillips, Americans for Prosperity
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform
George Landrith, Frontiers of Freedom
Thomas A. Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste
Richard Manning, Americans for Limited Government
Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks
Craig Richardson, E&E Legal
Benjamin Zycher, American Enterprise Institute
Jason Hayes, Mackinac Center
David Williams, Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Paul Gessing, Rio Grande Foundation
Seton Motley, Less Government
Nathan Nascimento, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce
Isaac Orr, Center of the American Experiment
David T. Stevenson & Clint Laird, Caesar Rodney Institute
John Droz, Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions
Jim Karahalios, Axe the Carbon Tax
Mark Mathis, Clear Energy Alliance
Jack Ekstrom, PolicyWorks America

Energy Markets


WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $48.49
Natural Gas: ↑ $2.67
Gasoline: ↑ $2.21

Diesel: ↑ $2.50
Heating Oil: ↑ $149.58
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $51.55
** US Rig Count ([link removed])
: ↑ 401



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