Bloomberg: “Global power grids are about to face their biggest test in decades with electricity generation strangled in the world’s largest economies.”
“War. Drought. Production shortages. Historically low inventories. And pandemic backlash. Energy markets across the planet have been put through the wringer over the past year, and consumers have suffered the consequences of soaring prices. But, somehow, things are on track to get even worse.”
“Russia will cut natural gas supplies to Finland on Saturday, the latest salvo in a growing confrontation between the two countries over the war in Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.
“Gasoline pump prices have risen above $4 a gallon in all states in the US for the first time ever as the last holdouts — Kansas, Oklahoma and Georgia — saw prices rise overnight,” Bloomberg reports.
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Gasoline prices hit a new record on Tuesday just as Americans are entering peak summer driving season, CBS News reports.
The national average price for a gallon of gas hit $4.37, eclipsing a previous record set in early March.
“The Biden administration plans to seek bids this fall to buy 60 million barrels of crude oil as the first step in a years-long process aimed at replenishing America’s emergency oil reserve,” CNN reports.
“This would mark the first time since the early 2000s that the Energy Department has acquired large quantities of oil for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest emergency supply of oil on the planet.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) pushed back on President Biden’s proposal to expand the tax credit for electric-vehicles, calling the idea “ludicrous” and adding a new obstacle to White House plans for fighting climate change, Bloomberg reports.
Said Manchin: “There is a waiting list for EVs right now, with the fuel prices, but they still want us to throw a $5,000, or $7,000 or $12,000 credit for us to buy electric vehicles.”
He added: “When we can’t produce enough product for the people that want it and we’re still going to pay them to take it — it’s absolutely ludicrous in my mind.”
“Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. oil companies, on Friday reported a second consecutive quarter of robust earnings as oil and natural gas prices continued to rise after the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” the New York Times reports.
“Germany is now ready to stop buying Russian oil, clearing the way for a European Union ban on crude imports from Russia,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The German shift increases the likelihood that EU countries will agree on a phased-in embargo on Russian oil, with a decision possible as soon as next week… However, how quickly the bloc ends its Russian oil purchases, and whether it also uses measures such as price caps or tariffs, is still being negotiated. The U.S. is pressing its European allies to avoid steps that could lead to a protracted increase in oil prices.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw cold water on the idea of a national gas tax holiday, which some vulnerable House Democrats have embraced, Politico reports.
Said Pelosi: “There has been some interest in the holiday. The pros of it are that it’s good PR — you’re asking about it. The cons are that there’s no guarantee that the reduction in the federal tax would be passed on to the consumer. We have no evidence to think that the oil companies would pass that on to the consumer.”
“Top congressional Democrats are exploring new proposals to suspend the gas tax and penalize giant energy corporations, hoping to lower prices as part of a broader effort to blunt the financial and political fallout from soaring inflation,” the Washington Post reports.
“Some in the party even are pushing to adopt the bills before Memorial Day weekend, a travel-heavy holiday that marks the beginning of summer. But they face an uphill battle, particularly in the Senate, where Republicans have exhibited little appetite for teaming up with Democrats and taking aim at the energy industry.”
Sara Goddard offers 15 smart ways to reduce your energy use — while taking control of your soaring gas bills and helping the environment.
“Infuriated by the West’s supply of arms and other support to help Ukraine resist invading Russian troops, Moscow on Tuesday took the fight to Europe’s economy, telling Poland and Bulgaria that it was halting supplies of natural gas, on which both countries and Europe in general are heavily dependent,” the New York Times reports.
“A decision by Russia’s energy behemoth Gazprom to cut off gas supplies to two countries that are both members of NATO and the European Union marks the first time that Moscow has directly and openly targeted Europe with its energy weapon. The move upends assurances by Moscow since the Soviet era that, no matter what the political climate, Russia could be counted on as a reliable supplier of natural gas.”
Washington Post: Russia accused of ‘gas blackmailing’ after cutting off Poland, Bulgaria.
Washington Post: “The new rules, which reverse a Trump-era policy, expand energy-efficiency requirements to more types of lightbulbs and ban the sale of those that produce less than 45 lumens per watt — a measure of how much light is emitted for each unit of electricity. This will eventually prohibit most incandescent and halogen lightbulbs and shift the country toward more efficient and compact fluorescent and LED bulbs.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) “is exploring an energy and climate package aimed at winning enough Republican support to skirt the partisan budget reconciliation process that has held hostage hundreds of billions of dollars in potential spending on related priorities,” Bloomberg reports.
CNN: “Far from the coasts, wind energy is thriving here in America’s heartland, on the vast plains of Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska. Long an area devoted to oil and gas, Western Oklahoma is now home to one of the largest wind farms in the world.”
Financial Times: “Talk of a full-scale embargo on Russian energy is spreading panic in Germany, which until the war received 55 percent of its imported gas from Russia. The fear is that any sudden gas shut-off could paralyze large parts of the country’s industry…”
“Germany also faces the risk that Russia could itself retaliate against western sanctions by unilaterally stopping the flow of gas to Europe. Either way, Berlin is facing a scenario unthinkable even a few weeks ago — a gas supply shock that would force it to ration energy to industry and could shutter some of the country’s largest factories.”
“The Biden administration is launching a $6 billion effort to rescue nuclear power plants at risk of closing, citing the need to continue nuclear energy as a carbon-free source of power that helps to combat climate change,” the AP reports.
“The Biden administration announced on Friday that it would resume selling leases for new oil and gas drilling on public lands, but would also raise the federal royalties that companies must pay to drill, which would be the first increase in those fees in more than a century,” the New York Times reports.
“The move comes as President Biden seeks to show voters that he is working to increase the domestic oil supply as prices surge in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But it also violates a signature campaign pledge made by Mr. Biden as he sought to assure climate activists that he would prioritize reducing the use of fossil fuels.”
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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.