Crazy Train

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 02/11/2022

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I just looked on Kayak. Round trip fares from LAX to SFO cost 90 bucks.

Wall Street Journal (2/10/22) editorial: "California Democrats once hoped that their 500-mile bullet train from Los Angeles to San Francisco would be a high-speed rail model for the nation. It’s a model, all right—in how politics can drive public works off the rails. The California High-Speed Rail Authority this week increased its cost estimate for the bullet train to $105 billion from $100 billion two years ago. In 2008 when voters approved $10 billion in bonds for the choo-choo, the estimated price tag was a mere $40 billion. That’s enough to have built 10 large water reservoirs in the parched state. This latest $5 billion doesn’t even account for rapidly rising material and labor costs. Most of the plus-up, according to the rail authority’s business plan, is for environmental 'mitigation,' including changes to address the 'visual effects' around the César E. Chávez National Monument, to 'enhance noise barriers' in the city of Tehachapi (population: 14,414), and to restore a stream along a hiking trail...The first trains that run might be slow, diesel and mostly empty. 'I’m worried that we’re dead in the water,' Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said last fall. 'I’m also worried that we have what would be a laughingstock for California.' Too late."

"Renewable subsidies were intended to be temporary. But as California shows, once the rich and powerful are hooked, the handouts are hard to take away."

- Wall Street Journal Editorial Board

The devil is in the details, Joe.

Biden's first act as President was canceling this pipeline. Not to worry, though, because he's going to work like the devil to lower gasoline prices...

Financial Post (2/9/22) reports: "Alberta is seeking $1.3 billion in compensation from the U.S. government in the wake of President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline’s permit. The provincial government says it has filed a notice of intent to launch a claim under legacy rules tied to the old North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline had been the subject of a decade-plus battle that pitted the energy industry against environmentalists. Biden revoked the permit for Keystone XL shortly after his inauguration last year. Calgary-based TC Energy, the company behind the proposed pipeline, filed a similar claim in July seeking US $15 billion, after formally canceling the project and taking a $2.2-billion write down. The Alberta government had invested in the project and was left on the hook for $1.3 billion when it was canceled."

I'm confused. I thought wind and solar were now the lowest cost electricity generation providers. Remind me, again, why they need $555 billion in federal subsidies.

MSN (2/9/22) reports: "President Biden on Wednesday met with the chief executives of utility companies to discuss his Build Back Better agenda. But after about 20 minutes, the president excused himself and left the room, and the press and cameras were ushered out. What happened next is no longer a mystery. The Climate 202 spoke with Pedro Pizarro, the president and CEO of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, about the private discussion that ensued among executives and Biden administration officials, including White House Climate Coordinator Gina McCarthy, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese. Pizarro said he expressed serious concerns about the costs of inaction on climate change, as the Build Back Better package — including its $555 billion in climate spending — remains stalled on Capitol Hill...It remains to be seen how Biden will meet his ambitious goal of achieving 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035. Even if Democrats manage to pass the clean energy tax credits in Build Back Better, they have already dropped plans for a Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP), which would have rewarded utilities for deploying more clean energy, because of Manchin’s opposition. American Electric Power, whose president and CEO, Nick Akins, attended the meeting yesterday, circulated a letter to congressional offices in September that said the CEPP would force utilities to cut emissions 'too rapidly,”'

So much for that EV future...

Politico (2/11/22) reports: "Almost 70 percent of U.S. consumers would prefer a gasoline or diesel engine in their next car, despite recent growth in electric vehicles, according to a new study. Deloitte’s study this winter on automotive consumer sentiment also found that over half of U.S. drivers were unwilling to buy an EV if it cost $500 more than a conventional gas model. Respondents cited concerns about insufficient driving ranges and a lack of public charging infrastructure as the top reasons why they wouldn't consider an electric vehicle. The study also found that U.S. respondents had the highest requirements for electric vehicles’ driving ranges. U.S. respondents reported that they would only consider battery-electric vehicles with driving ranges of almost 520 miles — about twice what respondents in China, Japan, or India expected. In the United States, the average car drives about 11,500 miles per year, or 30 miles per day, according to data from the Federal Highway Administration. Deloitte surveyed approximately 1,000 consumers in each of 25 countries. Most of those countries were in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, though the study also gauged public opinion in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and South Africa"

If you oppose a carbon tax, take a stand and contact us.

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
Annette Thompson Meeks, Freedom Foundation of Minnesota
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: ↑ $90.98
Natural Gas: ↓ $3.90
Gasoline: ↑ $3.48

Diesel: ↑ $3.87
Heating Oil: ↑ $285.86
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $92.46
US Rig Count: ↑ 724

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