California's EV Dreaming

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 03/09/2023

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California is a cautionary tale, not a blueprint.

Fox News (3/8/23) reports: "A group of House Republicans introduced legislation Wednesday that would restrict California's ability to ban traditional gas-powered cars as part of the state's electric vehicle push. The four Republicans, led by Rep. John Joyce of Pennsylvania, said the bill — the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act — is designed to protect American consumers' freedom of choice and block stringent purchase requirements that would lead to higher costs. The legislation comes months after California, which leads the country in annual car sales, approved regulations mandating that all car purchases are 'zero emissions' by 2035. 'We have seen time and time again that heavy-handed government intervention – like California’s proposal to ban internal combustion engine vehicles – limits consumer choice and infringes upon Americans’ freedoms when choosing what’s best for themselves and their families,' Latta said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. 'California’s misguided proposal will have ramifications that go well beyond its own borders and would make it more difficult for Americans to get to work, drop their kids off at school, and travel to visit loved ones,' he continued."

"Alaska probably has more sanctions put against it by our own government than our government has against Venezuela. So, this is not the end of oil, it's just the end of oil in America."

– Gov. Mike Dunleavy, R-Alaska

Some people complain that Pres. Trump didn't have respect for the law--what do you call it when the Biden administration says they'll get around to finalizing the required 5-year offshore plan at least 1.5 years after the last one expired?

Reuters (3/8/23) reports: "The Biden administration needs until the end of this year to finalize a long-awaited five-year plan for offshore oil and gas development in federal waters, according to court documents filed this week. The U.S. has been without a congressionally-mandated five year schedule of offshore oil and gas auctions since the previous one expired in June 2022. The process is being closely watched by the oil and gas industry, which has pressed for more leasing to boost domestic fuel supplies, and by environmentalists, who say drilling conflicts with President Joe Biden’s promise to fight climate change. In a proposal unveiled in July, the Interior Department said the next plan would have anywhere from zero to 11 lease sales, but it did not commit to a timeline for completing the process. Since then, Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains billions in subsidies aimed at fighting climate change but makes permitting of offshore wind facilities in federal waters contingent on Interior offering acreage on the Outer Continental Shelf to drillers."

By delaying American production Biden is working against his own stated "climate" goals.

American Press (3/8/23) column: "Not once but twice President Biden went off script during his State of the Union speech to acknowledge that the need for oil and gas will continue 'for at least another decade and beyond that.' Regarding the comments, Bloomberg reported, 'Biden’s comments offered only partial comfort to some oil industry representatives who have insisted they need more encouraging signals from Washington about the enduring need for fossil fuels in order to lure more capital and drive investments that take decades to pay off.'..The decision to pause and cancel lease sales was made, nonetheless. Most recently in February 2023, the Institute for Energy Research issued a paper confirming the government’s report findings. The paper cited research from the well-known Environmental Quality Index produced by Yale University. The paper reasons, “The results show that purely as a matter of environmental protection, replacing U.S. domestic production with foreign supply would be an overwhelmingly negative tradeoff.” So why are we vilifying American production, purportedly in the name of environmental sustainability, while at the same time asking OPEC to increase production? An established 5-Year Leasing Program is essential. Likewise, it is just as essential to unleash USA Energy Workers back to 2019 activity levels. An increase in USA production to 2019 rates could replace the recent OPEC cuts of exported production to the USA six times over; just USA offshore would replace the OPEC curtailed production three times over."

You'll save money with a heat pump, but according to heat pump advocates it will cost you $14,000 on average to install a heat pump. No worries. You are made of money, right?

Washington Post (2/28/23) column: "Last year, my furnace failed during a cold snap. My wife and I huddled in our condominium researching how we could install heat pumps instead of a gas furnace. These miraculously clean and efficient machines, essentially refrigerators running in reverse, can heat water and homes using only electricity. As temperatures plunged toward freezing, we grew more desperate. My journey led to days of dead ends, confused contractors and wildly expensive quotes. We finally surrendered to the status quo, installing the most efficient gas furnace we could find, even if it saddled us with a fossil-fuel albatross for another decade or so. Learn from my mistakes. As the United States begins spending millions of dollars to incentivize new heat pumps, homeowners and landlords are facing the same question: How do I install one?...The average cost of adding heat pumps to existing homes is about $14,000, according to estimates by Carbon Switch, a website analyzing electrification technologies. In smaller homes or condos, a single installed heat pump may cost as little as $3,500, and renters can even buy window units for $500 to $2,000."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $77.15
Natural Gas: ↑ $2.61
Gasoline: ↑ $3.46

Diesel: ↑ $4.37
Heating Oil: ↑ $275.39
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $83.18
US Rig Count: ↓ 837

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