CA's infinite power plan

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 09/14/2022

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Life mirrors art.

But not in a good way.

"The people of ancient Eshnunna can be forgiven for not understanding why setting the price of a kor of barley at a shekel of silver was a harmful policy. Today’s policymakers, who have the benefit of history and economics, have no excuse."

– Jonathan Miltimore, FEE

Unpopular policy even more unpopular when costs are made clear.

American Spectator (9/9/22) column: "The dubiously named Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a smorgasbord of energy subsidies, health-care policy changes, and tax reform measures, passed to laudatory acclaim from a broad Democratic and centrist coalition in August. One faction that was understandably mum, however, was the carbon tax movement. In the energy domain, the IRA will fund an array of technologies through provisions like a new investment tax credit for batteries, microgrids, and biogas; through extensions and expansions for tax credits on electric vehicles, carbon capture and sequestration, and solar energy; and through the creation of a new hydrogen production tax credit. Costly though the IRA will be, a carbon tax is not among the legislation’s revenue-generators. After a decade of post-Waxman-Markey lobbying and millions of dollars poured into the efforts of groups like the Climate Leadership Council (CLC) and Young Americans for Carbon Dividends (YACD), carbon taxers find themselves in the wilderness. Congress has passed its largest-ever climate change legislation, and the carbon tax movement’s raison d’être is nowhere to be found. To understand why the carbon tax movement finds itself on the outside looking in doesn’t require a Ph.D. in political science; it requires only a common sense look at how energy plays politically in the U.S. and across the globe. Energy factors into virtually every good in the economy. When energy prices — such as for transportation fuels and electricity — rise, all the goods depending on them rise too."

EVs, the feel-good policy of the year... so long as you don't have any idea of how they are made.

NTD (9/13/22) reports: "In Chile’s Salar de Atacama, locals watch helplessly as their ancestral lands wither and die, their precious water resources evaporating in salar brines. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, hope for a better life dissolves as well-funded Ugandan-led extremist groups force children as young as six into cobalt mines. Closer to home, Nevada’s Fort McDermitt Tribe and local ranchers fight to protect a sacred burial site and agricultural lands set to be sacrificed by Lithium Nevada, a mining company, in the coming days. Meanwhile, in California and other states, politicians like Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) pat themselves on the back for their 'aggressive' environmental stance and boast that their gas-powered vehicle bans are leading 'the revolution towards our zero-emission transportation future.'...'We used to have a river before that now doesn’t exist. There isn’t a drop of water,' Elena Rivera Cardoso, president of the Indigenous Colla community of the Copiapó commune, told the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). In collaboration with Cardosa’s statement, the Institute for Energy Research reports that 65 percent of the area’s limited water resources evaporate in salar brines."

Not to mention, China makes 76% of the batteries...

Wall Street Journal (9/14/22) reports: "The world’s biggest auto makers are betting that recycled material from old batteries will help supply the metal they need to build electric cars. The latest wager is on a startup that says it can take advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act. Jaguar Land Rover and South Korean conglomerate SK Group are among the investors putting more than $300 million into Ascend Elements, a startup that aims to serve an emerging center of battery production in the Southeastern U.S. The company says it has an efficient way to turn used lithium-ion batteries into new components. Other investors include Fifth Wall, a venture investor with a clean-energy focus...The recyclers are jockeying for large customers that need more of those materials to meet their electric-vehicle goals. Car makers are trying to limit their dependence on China, which dominates the battery supply chain. Investors are pouring money into recycling in part because nearly all new mines and processing facilities in the U.S. face local opposition due to worries about environmental damage. That typically stalls progress and means it takes up to a decade or more to get projects up and running. The Inflation Reduction Act added to the momentum in the sector by tying electric-car tax credits for consumers to how much battery material comes from domestic production and recycling or from U.S. trade partners."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $88.95
Natural Gas: ↑ $8.72
Gasoline: ~ $3.70

Diesel: ↓ $4.99
Heating Oil: ↓ $341.32
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $94.64
US Rig Count: ↑ 848

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