Biden's beef with miners

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 01/27/2022

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Hey Joe, we're going to need a tremendous increase in critical minerals to hit your renewable energy goals. What do you say about letting American miners do the job?

Star Tribune (1/26/22) reports: "The Biden administration on Wednesday canceled two federal minerals leases for the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine in northern Minnesota, likely killing a project widely condemned for being too close to the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The huge underground mine would have tapped major reserves of copper and nickel — minerals key to a low-carbon economy — but also posed serious risks of contaminating the many waters surrounding it with sulfide and toxic heavy metals. Polls showed many Minnesotans did not support creating an industrial operation at a gateway to the federally protected wilderness. The boreal outback covers more than 1 million acres, a maze of forested lakes, streams and wetlands where motorized boats are not allowed. The U.S. Department of Interior issued its legal determination Wednesday. Two lawsuits challenging the legality of the minerals leases in Washington, D.C., courts will likely be dismissed. The two minerals leases were essential for Twin Metals, a subsidiary of Chilean copper mining giant Antofagasta, to develop the mine — its first major effort outside Chile."

"With the timely news of the U.S. reaching the top of the LNG exporter ranking, the administration should champion LNG exports as part of an 'all of the above' energy approach to boost our economy, fortify national security, and assert geopolitical dominance in support of our allies."

– Craig Stevens, GAIN

When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.

Forbes (1/26/22) article: "Two years ago, Nick Deluliis, CEO of CNX Resources, had no social media accounts – 'I had no idea what to do with social media,' he told me with a laugh during a recent interview. Today, he is all over Twitter and other social media platforms, advocating for his company and his industry. He has his own podcast. He has authored a book that is coming out soon. It is the complete opposite approach you see taken by most CEOs in the energy business. I asked him why he has chosen to become such a vocal advocate, given that it will inevitably make him a target to so many who oppose fossil fuels in any form. “I feel there’s an ethical duty, a leadership responsibility, there’s a social purpose of a business to accurately, rationally advocate for what you do on behalf of society and why what you do is not in the past, it’s not a bridge that’s going to go away; it’s the present and it’s the future. Particularly when mistruths are used to vilify what you do.' he answered...'To me, it just defies logic that you would preclude a methane molecule from PA that is 400 miles away from Boston City Gate, and instead you’re going to run into the arms of Russian LNG with a 4,000 mile supply chain. Think about what the carbon footprint of that is.' Deluliis also points to last year’s grid collapse in Texas as being by and large a result of a counterproductive set of subsidies and incentives put into place by virtue-signaling policymakers redirecting billions of investment dollars away from ensuring grid stability and capacity adequacy and into the building of wind farms in West Texas, hundreds of miles away from the market centers they need to serve.”

French lesson for the day: Deja vu.

Politico (1/26/22) reports: "French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire said Wednesday Europe's energy crisis is 'comparable' to the 1973 oil shock, and that it warrants exceptional mitigation measures. 'Every country in Europe is today facing an energy crisis that is the most serious in decades,' Le Maire said in a telephone press briefing, adding: 'The response and responsibility of the government is to act, to decide, and to use all the levers at its disposal to blunt that shock, because otherwise the social consequences for French consumers and economic consequences for businesses would be considerable.' The declaration was followed by an impassioned finance ministry defense of the government's decision this month to force state-controlled utility EDF to sell more nuclear electricity to competing power providers at a fixed low price."

Chaos in the Kakistocracy.

Wall Street Journal (1/26/22) editorial: "Energy is Russia’s most potent nonnuclear weapon, so it’s no surprise that Vladimir Putin is leveraging it as he threatens Ukraine. Europe’s climate obsessions have made it vulnerable to Russia, and so the Biden Administration is riding to the rescue by begging the Arabs and other energy producers to boost natural gas deliveries...The self-created energy vulnerability of the West is one of the horrifying marvels of the age. You have to go back to the disarmament of the 1920s to recall a time of such willful self-delusion. Even as President Biden races to rescue Europe, his Build Back Better plan would send the U.S. down the same road of energy disarmament. White House officials say Russia and Europe are interdependent since the Kremlin relies on oil and gas revenue to fund its budget. But Russia has other energy clients, including China. Gazprom is building gas pipelines to China. Even as Europe becomes more dependent on Russia for gas, Russia is becoming less dependent on Europe for revenue. At the same time, the White House is making the U.S. more dependent on China for the minerals needed to advance its green energy agenda. On Wednesday, the Administration canceled Twin Metals Minnesota’s rights to mine copper, nickel and cobalt in northeast Minnesota. Green groups are pushing to scotch lithium mining in Nevada."

“Thus, Larry Fink finds himself warning of the very danger that BlackRock’s woke investment policies will bring about.”

Real Clear Energy (1/25/22) op-ed: "Judged by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s latest letter, January 2022 might turn out to be the highwater mark of woke capitalism. Stakeholder capitalism is not 'woke,' Fink says, because capitalism is driven by mutually beneficial relationships between businesses and their stakeholders. He’s right. What Fink describes is capitalism pure and simple, the stakeholder modifier adding nothing to the uniqueness of capitalism in harnessing competition and innovation for the benefit of all. Fink’s shift is more than rhetorical. Just three years ago, in his 2019 “Profit and Purpose” letter, Fink told CEOs that the $24 trillion of wealth Millennials expect to inherit from their Boomer parents meant that ESG (environment, social, governance) issues 'will be increasingly material to corporate valuations.' Now Fink tells them that 'long-term profitability' is the measure by which markets will determine their companies’ success, dumping the ESG valuation metrics he’d previously championed...The days of woke CEOs criticizing democratically elected politicians for, say, not mandating unisex bathrooms, also seem to be drawing to a close. CEOs should be thoughtful in how they address social issues, Fink says, advising them to show humility and stay grounded. But Fink himself has some way to travel along the humility road. He requires all companies BlackRock invests in to set short-, medium-, and long-term targets for greenhouse gas reductions – as if BlackRock is an enforcement arm of government and net zero is a done deal. 'Incumbents need to be clear about their pathway [to] succeeding in a net zero economy,' he writes."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $87.76
Natural Gas: ↑ $4.34
Gasoline: ↑ $3.34

Diesel: ↑ $3.69
Heating Oil: ↑ $277.94
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $90.42
US Rig Count: ↑ 703

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