“The Biden administration gave formal approval Monday for a huge oil drilling project in Alaska known as Willow, despite widespread opposition because of its likely environmental and climate impacts,” the New York Times reports.
Biden to Enact Arctic Protections
“President Biden on Monday will announce sweeping protections for more than 16 million acres of land and water in Alaska, as he prepares to approve a massive oil drilling project that has drawn intense criticism from climate activists and young voters,” the Washington Post reports.
“The president will declare the Arctic Ocean off limits to oil and gas leasing, the Interior Department announced Sunday. The department will also write new regulations protecting nearly 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, the nation’s largest piece of public land, including ecologically sensitive areas that provide habitat for thousands of caribou and shorebirds.”
Biden to Move Ahead on Major Oil Project in Alaska
“In one of the most consequential climate decisions of his administration, President Biden is planning to greenlight an enormous $8 billion oil drilling project in the North Slope of Alaska,“ the New York Times reports.
“Alaska lawmakers and oil executives have put intense pressure on the White House to approve the project, citing President Biden’s own calls for the industry to increase production amid volatile gas prices stemming from Russia’s war against Ukraine.”
“But the proposal to drill for oil has also galvanized young voters and climate activists, many of whom helped elect Mr. Biden and who would view the decision as a betrayal of the president’s promise that he would pivot the nation away from fossil fuels.”
Biden Delays Offshore Oil Leasing Plan
“In his latest clash with the White House, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) sharply criticized the Biden administration Wednesday for delays on a new federal offshore drilling plan that the Interior Department says it needs until December to put into effect,” the Washington Post reports.
“Manchin, who remains a key swing vote in the Senate, has recently pushed back against the administration for its appointments and its implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, including on how it affects oil and natural gas leasing in Alaska.”
House GOP Readies First Legislative Push
Politico: “The energy package — which they aim to pass the last week of March — is set to include some of the party’s most popular pitches over the past decade, from boosting fossil-fuel production on federal lands to disapproving of President Joe Biden’s block on the Keystone XL pipeline to easing environmental reviews of energy and mining projects.”
Energy Department Officials Hold Stocks Related to Work
“U.S. ethics officials in recent years have warned one-third of the Energy Department’s senior officials that they or their families owned stocks related to the agency’s work, reminding them not to violate federal conflict-of-interest rules,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Most held on to the stocks, a Wall Street Journal analysis of officials’ financial disclosures from 2017 through 2021 shows.”
“The more than 300 agency officials who received such warnings include nearly six dozen who held stocks of major energy companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp.”
Americans Are Using Less Gas
“The gas-guzzling heyday of the world’s largest oil market is receding as more efficient cars, the arrival of mass-market electric vehicles and the rise of working from home prompt US motorists to burn less petrol,” the Financial Times reports.
“The 8.78 million barrels a day of petrol consumed in the US last year was 6 per cent lower than record volumes sold before the coronavirus pandemic. Consumption will continue to decline in 2023 and 2024.”
France Will Blanket Parking Lots with Solar Panels
“French parking lots could soon generate as much electricity as 10 nuclear power plants, after a law is expected to win final passage on Tuesday requiring canopies of solar panels to be built atop all substantial lots in the country,” the Washington Post reports.
“The plan makes France a world leader in efforts to cover as many surfaces as possible with solar panels, a step advocates say will be crucial in broader plans to phase out fossil fuels in the coming years. The expansion could add as much as 8 percent to France’s current electrical capacity.”
Gas Stoves Are Back Under Scrutiny
“Gas stoves are coming under fresh scrutiny as a second federal agency has now stepped into the political firestorm with a proposal for new regulations for the appliances,” Bloomberg reports.
“The Energy Department proposal, published Wednesday, sets first-of-their-kind limits on energy consumption for the stoves, drawing fear from the industry that the regulation could effectively end the use of some products from the market. The proposal also sets energy usage standards for electric cook tops and new standards for both gas and electric ovens.”
Biden’s EV Surprise
“The Biden administration’s plan to jump-start a domestic supply chain for electric vehicles is on track to shatter expectations,” Axios reports.
“Democrats offered carmakers new tax credits as an incentive to scale up domestic battery manufacturing — and they’re racing to take advantage.”
“Some experts say the value of those tax credits may be four times higher than Congress’ budget experts anticipated.”
Russia Can’t Replace Energy Market Putin Broke
“Russia spent almost 50 years building its energy market in Europe. President Vladimir Putin destroyed it in under 50 weeks,” Bloomberg reports.
“Finding a replacement will be almost impossible. While Russia has found alternative markets for its crude oil, mostly in India, switching sales of refined products and — perhaps even more so — natural gas will take years and come at huge cost. That’s if it’s even possible to create markets as the world turns away from fossil fuels.”
Exxon Mobil Posts Record Profit
“Exxon Mobil rocketed to its highest-ever annual profit last year, riding surging oil prices to resurrect its status as one of America’s most profitable companies and erase billions of dollars of losses incurred during the pandemic,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The largest U.S. oil company turned in record annual earnings of $55.7 billion for 2022 in its quarterly earnings Tuesday, outpacing big banks, tech giants and vaccine makers.”
Biden Approved More Oil and Gas Leases Than Trump
“President Biden approved more oil and gas drilling permits in his first two years in office than did former President Donald Trump,” Yahoo News reports.
“Despite that statistic, Republicans have routinely criticized Biden over his aversion to selling new oil and gas leases on federal land, which, in addition to the halting of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline project, they say resulted in a surge in gasoline prices after Russia invaded Ukraine in Feb. 2022.”
GOP Wants to Stop Drawdowns from Petroleum Reserve
“Republicans are aiming to neutralize one of the main tools that President Joe Biden used to lower gasoline prices before last year’s elections — his prolific releases of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” Politico reports.
Pakistan’s Premier Apologizes for Power Outage
“Pakistan’s prime minister on Tuesday apologized to the nation for a major, daylong power outage that disrupted normal life across the country and drew criticism from millions who were left without electricity amid the harsh winter weather,” the AP reports.
The Energy Market Is Forever Changed
“Nearly a year after Russia’s invasion, the Ukraine crisis has permanently reshaped the global energy system and brought severe economic pain,” Axios reports.
“The worst-case scenarios haven’t come to pass, thanks to a mix of EU policies, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s miscalculations and pure luck. But the impact is apparent on every facet of the market, from natural gas to oil to low-carbon energy.”
What’s Behind the Gas Stove Kerfuffle?
Politico: “Genuine or not, the stove flap gave Republican lawmakers an opening to put Biden’s energy policies back on the front burner, after last year’s spurt of high gasoline prices had faded from the headlines. It also touches on a real, coast-to-coast crusade by liberal city and state leaders to prohibit gas stoves and furnaces in new buildings, on the grounds that they endanger health and contribute to climate change.”
“But the White House has disavowed enacting any such ban at the federal level.”
Exxon Made ‘Breathtakingly’ Accurate Climate Predictions
“The oil giant Exxon privately ‘predicted global warming correctly and skilfully’ only to then spend decades publicly rubbishing such science in order to protect its core business, new research has found,” The Guardian reports.
“A trove of internal documents and research papers has previously established that Exxon knew of the dangers of global heating from at least the 1970s, with other oil industry bodies knowing of the risk even earlier, from around the 1950s. They forcefully and successfully mobilized against the science to stymie any action to reduce fossil fuel use.”
“A new study, however, has made clear that Exxon’s scientists were uncannily accurate in their projections from the 1970s onwards, predicting an upward curve of global temperatures and carbon dioxide emissions that is close to matching what actually occurred as the world heated up at a pace not seen in millions of years.”
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