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MORNING ENERGY NEWS  | 02/02/2021
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They could at least pretend to know what they are talking about as they try and destroy the livelihoods of thousands.


The Federalist (2/1/21) column: "Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris gave an exclusive interview to a local television news station in West Virginia. In the interview, Harris was asked about the state’s coal industry. She reassured West Virginia coal miners that even if their jobs disappear under the Biden administration — and the implication was clear that they would disappear — mine workers could transfer their skills to new industries. She then listed several exciting new careers coal miners could consider. The first of these was, and I quote: 'reclaiming abandoned land mines.' Now, I know what you’re thinking: 'Are there really that many abandoned land mines lying around in West Virginia? Enough to make a whole job industry out of minesweeping?' And: 'Is it safe to go hiking there?'...The results were predictable. The vice president added a new chapter to the annals of tone-deafness, updating 'let them eat cake” to “let them sweep for land mines.' Sure, it was just a gaffe (and a funny one too), but the message to West Virginians came through: D.C. elites aren’t even trying to understand you."

"A Dakota Access decision will likely set the political and regulatory tone for the energy industry over the next four years. The country will learn if Mr. Biden plans on sticking to his campaign climate promises or if he cares more about saving a strategically important industry that provides good-paying blue-collar jobs across the country." 

 

– Paul H. Tice, Wall Street Journal

All costs & no benefits Joe.


Issues & Insights (1/29/2021) column: "The order also seems harmless enough, going by the seemingly innocent title 'Modernizing Regulatory Review.' Except this order isn’t about modernizing regulations. It’s about unleashing the regulatory state with a ferocity never before seen in this country. Biden’s order – which didn’t get released to the press until late in the evening of his first day – aims to effectively toss the cost-benefit analysis that for many decades has served as at least a modest brake on the ambitions of regulators. In the past, regulations where the cost of compliance far exceeded the benefits could be stymied by the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs...Unfortunately, with this one executive order, Biden shows that he’s intent on giving regulators carte blanche to impose massive new rules on businesses and households, on virtually anything and everything they do, regardless of costs. There’s little else Biden has done so far that will have as wide-ranging an impact."

Good luck with that.


Bloomberg (1/29/21) reports: "General Motors CEO Mary Barra just stomped on the electric-vehicle accelerator pedal. Call it the Biden effect. Six months ago the automaker backed the Trump administration in a legal battle that could have neutered California’s longstanding right to set its own tougher carbon-emission rules. About two weeks after Trump lost, GM withdrew from that fight and two weeks after he left office, it pledged to match the state’s mandate to sell only electric vehicles starting in 2035 -- and do that all across the U.S...Officially, GM said it always wanted one national standard instead of different rules from Washington and Sacramento. It just so happens that the company picked Trump’s watered-down option. Critics of government subsidies were quick to see GM’s move as a sign the market for EVs is maturing fast enough that no additional incentives are needed. 'GM is a publicly traded business and is making a strategic, calculated market decision,' Tom Pyle, a former Trump adviser and current president of American Energy Alliance, a free-market advocacy group, said in a statement. 'In no way should any taxpayer be responsible for GM’s ability to achieve -- or fail to achieve -- their corporate goal of an all-electric light duty fleet by 2035.'"

Energy abundance is not humanity's natural state.


CNS News (2/1/21) reports: "Democratic Party officials who have repeatedly raised questions about Donald Trump’s relationship with top Russian officials continue to pursue anti-energy policies that benefit Russia and other hostile foreign powers.  President Joe Biden, for instance, has described Trump as a 'puppy' of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden also recycled claims about Russian interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections that supposedly worked to the advantage of Trump.  Whatever the merits of the allegations, Trump’s deregulatory initiatives and support for innovative drilling techniques like hydraulic fracturing have helped the U.S. to become energy independent for the first time in more than 60 years. The Institute for Energy Research (IER), a Washington D.C. nonprofit that advocates for free market policies to alleviate costs for energy consumers and taxpayers, has circulated data that shows U.S. energy production in 2019 was higher than U.S. energy consumption for the first time since 1957. American energy dominance did not come about by some natural process of osmosis but was instead the result of deliberate public policy decisions that unleashed American innovation. The IER highlights some of the key developments as follows: 'One can thank the oil and gas industry and its use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling for that milestone as production in those industries increased a combined 11 percent in 2019. Total U.S. energy production increased by 5.7 percent in 2019 while U.S. energy demand decreased by 0.9 percent.'"

Energy Markets

 
WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $54.96
Natural Gas: ↑ $2.99
Gasoline: ~ $2.42
Diesel: ~ $2.65
Heating Oil: ↑ $168.33
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $57.81
US Rig Count: ↓ 438

 
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