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MORNING ENERGY NEWS  | 04/06/2021
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This ought to help restore trust in the government.


Bloomberg  (4/6/21) reports: "The prospects for President Joe Biden’s economic agenda could be enhanced by a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian that opens the door to passing multiple additional bills this year without any Republican support. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer‘s (D-N.Y.) said yesterday that Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled Democrats could enact another reconciliation package by revising the budget blueprint the Democratic Congress adopted earlier this year. The ruling 'allows Democrats additional tools to improve the lives of Americans if Republican obstruction continues,' said the spokesman, Justin Goodman. Goodman said no decisions have been made on how to move Biden’s agenda, but called the decision nonetheless 'an important step forward' and 'that this key pathway is available to Democrats if needed.' Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) praised the ruling. 'The American people want bold action to address our country’s many challenges, and Democrats now have more options to overcome Republican obstruction and get things done,' he said in a statement last night. Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package passed using the budget reconciliation process, which bypasses the 60-vote rule required to pass most legislation in the Senate. Read more from Steven T. Dennis."

"For too long we’ve taken for granted the balance, fuel security, and reliability assured by a power mix that relies heavily on base-load generation.  To keep base-load in the mix, and to encourage new investment in generation, we need a pricing system that recognizes the value of coal and nuclear facilities in providing grid security and an adequate reserve margin." 

 

– Bernard L. Weinstein,
Real Clear Energy

I doubt they will be earmarking any of their infrastructure spending on 'environmental justice' projects.


Wall Street Journal (4/3/21) reports: "Even China’s staunchest critics express awe at its capacity to build bridges, railways and other infrastructure, feats of engineering made possible by a command-style political system. President Biden is the latest American leader to invoke China’s accomplishments while pressing Congress to allocate spending for a far-reaching infrastructure program. He says more than $2 trillion to fix bridges and mass transit, modernize airports and refurbish neighborhoods, extend broadband internet coverage and replace lead piping is the cost to 'outcompete China.' Sleek airports, grand stadiums and stylized skylines captivate visitors to China. Infrastructure may be the most tangible—and admired—aspect of a modernization drive that in a generation transformed a poor country into the U.S.’s primary strategic and economic rival...Unchecked development in China has spawned problems, however, including debt and underused systems. Construction dust in many cities rivals pollution from car exhaust and industrial activity. Political graft tied to construction is common. So is thuggish behavior directed at the rare activists who challenge development plans...China’s government has continually relied on infrastructure construction to endure economic rough patches, including after shutdowns associated with last year’s Covid-19 outbreak. The Washington-based Institute of International Finance puts Chinese debt at 335% of GDP, up from 200% in 2011."

If coal is 'dead' why do renewables need government support everywhere around the globe?


Stop These Things (4/5/21) blog: "For years now, we’ve been told that “coal is dead” and that India and China will plump for wind and solar, instead of coal-fired power. Well, that’s the line being run by renewable energy rent-seekers and wind and solar zealots around the globe. It is, of course, complete bunkum. With hundreds of millions still in abject poverty, both China and India haven’t got time to muck around with expensive, part-time power. Industrialization requires cheap and reliable power, not stuff that’s delivered in chaotic fits and spurts and, when it is, is insanely expensive, anyway. Don’t forget, we wouldn’t be talking about wind or solar ‘industries’ in the absence of massive subsidies, guaranteed Feed-in Tariffs, government mandates, targets or tax credits. Australia is one of the world’s largest coal exporters, has abundant, high-quality reserves, and yet is faced with suicidal energy policies, which demonizes reliable and affordable coal-fired power and promotes chaotically intermittent wind and solar, with a raft of subsidies doled out under the Federal government Renewable Energy Target The RET will cost power consumers more than $60,000,000,000 over the life of the scheme. Where Australia’s political leadership seems hell-bent on destroying our economic competitiveness, both China and India have directed their efforts and resources at building phenomenal coal-fired power generation capacity."

Your daily reminder that when a government bureaucrat says 'standard' it is really a government mandate and 'carbon pricing' is a national energy tax. Oh, and both of them would break Biden's promise to not raise taxes on people making under $400,000 a year.
 

Washington Examiner (4/1/21) reports: "White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy said Thursday that the Biden administration is not ready to "close" the door on a carbon tax as part of its $2 trillion green infrastructure spending proposal. But McCarthy emphasized that President Joe Biden prefers a different approach as one of his main mechanisms to eliminate carbon emissions from electricity. Biden's plan calls on Congress to pass a clean electricity standard, which would require power companies to purchase an increasing amount of clean electricity until they reach 100% by 2035. 'I am certainly not going to close that,' McCarthy told reporters about a carbon tax. 'But [Biden's] choice was to look at a clean electricity standard in concert with the investments we identified. To him, that gets to the kind of reductions we promised in the campaign.' Democrats have coalesced around a clean electricity standard and moved away from a carbon tax, which has long been the favored climate policy of economists and some businesses because it would force companies to pay for their emissions without outlawing it. The American Petroleum Institute, the largest U.S. oil lobby, recently endorsed carbon pricing, but that has not slowed momentum for a clean electricity standard. McCarthy and her deputy, Ali Zaidi, were scheduled to meet Thursday with the utility trade group Edison Electric Institute to sell the industry on supporting a clean electricity standard mandating 100% clean power by 2035."

Energy Markets

 
WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $60.45
Natural Gas: ↑ $2.54
Gasoline: ~ $2.87
Diesel: ↓ $3.08
Heating Oil: ↑ $181.34
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $63.79
US Rig Count: ↓ 498

 
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