Institute for Energy Research

What a Biden-Harris Fracking Ban Would Mean

Hydraulic fracturing has made the United States the top oil and natural gas producer in the world and it has made the nation energy independent for the first time in 62 years. Yet, during stages in the campaign, potential Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris advocated a ban on fracking and a ban on drilling, sometimes entirely and sometimes only on federal lands and waters. A recent study shows that banning federal leasing and fracking on public and private lands would:

The Drawbacks of Ethanol

On May 31, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule allowing the year-round sale of motor gasoline blends containing up to 15 percent ethanol (E15) and thereby increasing the availability of E15 blends in the United States. Prior to that, E15 was not sold during the summer months, defined as June 1 to September 15, to limit evaporative emissions that contribute to ground-level ozone. Most motor gasoline sold in the United States contains up to 10 percent ethanol (E10). Under free market conditions, some ethanol is added to gasoline for its value as an oxygenate, creating a cleaner burning fuel and raising the octane rating of motor gasoline, which is useful in today’s higher compression, more efficient engines.

California Wildfires Raise the Risk of More Rolling Blackouts

The California wildfires are raising the risk of more electric-power blackouts because smoke and ash particles can block sunlight and settle on solar photovoltaic panels. California politicians have mandated that 60 percent of the state’s power must come from renewable energy by 2030 and 100 percent by 2045.

China Dominates the Global Lithium Battery Market

After years of planning, China now dominates the world's production of new generation batteries that are used in electric vehicles and most portable consumer electronics such as cell phones and laptops. As the demand for electric vehicles grows, it is expected that most of them will be built with Chinese batteries, and most of those batteries will be lithium ion, which are also popular for cellphones and laptops because of their high energy per unit mass relative to other electrical energy storage systems. For the foreseeable future, the United States will be dependent on Chinese supply chains to produce the batteries that power America's technologies. That will be particularly true if Joe Biden is able to implement his "clean energy" and climate plans that will transform our energy system, creating an even bigger role for batteries.

Coronavirus Pandemic Results in Low Summer Transportation Fuel Demand

Coronavirus fears, closed office buildings, remote school instruction, travel restrictions, and closed destinations all combined to keep transportation fuel demand low this summer. In particular, demand for motor gasoline and jet fuel fell to their lowest level in years.

Green Labor Day, Not!

So many want to forget 2020, but let’s make this Labor Day one to remember. A day to remember what happened the last time a candidate promised a ridiculously expensive program to create millions of green jobs. Literally doubling down on a failed campaign pledge from 2008, Joe Biden promises 10 million green jobs and lays out a game plan almost identical to the Obama-Biden stimulus that flunked the green-jobs test, but funneled billions and billions of dollars to politically powerful corporations and financiers.

The Bitter Truth Behind The Biden-Harris Green Energy Future

Transitioning to 100% renewable energy sounds like a sweet deal, right? And, sure, who doesn’t like the idea of saving the earth from climate change. It’s for the children after all. And what wouldn’t we do for the children? It turns out the reality of “clean” energy is not as sugary sweet as some have portrayed. The impact to our land is much worse than many realize, which questions the environmental value of what would be left behind.

Biden’s Electricity Plan Follows California’s Lead

California prides itself on being at the forefront of the so-called energy transition, having set its first renewable portfolio standard in 2002, requiring 20 percent of its electricity to come from renewables by 2010. In 2008, California increased the state’s renewable portfolio standard to 33 percent by 2020, followed by SB 350, which in 2015 increased the standard to 50 percent by 2030.

Texas Set to Capitalize on California’s Self-Made Electricity Problems

While billboards in California might not literally bear the slogan “Move to Texas: We have electricity!”, the real-life contrast between the two most populous states is stark. Texas does stand to capitalize on the electricity problems in California, which are caused primarily by the state’s politicians’ demand for renewable energy generation that does not produce power when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. Modern life itself relies on electricity and many Californians are indeed looking to Texas as a safe haven from the Golden State’s electricity problems and other woes. Not only are millions of Californians who are working from home during the coronavirus pandemic being inconvenienced, but power shutoffs endanger public health, particularly elderly residents who are more likely to succumb to heat stroke.

China Dominates the Rare Earths Supply Chain

With its detailed blueprint for global dominance, authoritarian China threatens to become a world superpower. An aspect of its plan is to exercise control over the supply chain of critical materials and rare earths. China already dominates the supply chain for most of the key future industries—electric vehicles (dependent on lithium-ion batteries and key materials cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, lithium, and rare earths), green energy such as solar panels and wind turbines (dependent on rare earths), and portable electronic devices (dependent on batteries and rare earths). Many of the rare earths are also critical to the military and aerospace industries.

The Real Climate Conspiracy by Attorneys General for Hire

Keith Ellison and Karl Racine, attorneys general of Minnesota and the District of Columbia, respectively, filed fraud charges this June against fossil fuel companies and alleged co-conspirators for participating in public discourse on climate change. Ellison’s accusation is that Exxon Mobil Corp., Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute have perpetrated “a conspiracy to deceive the public about climate change.” Racine’s accusation is that Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell, and Chevron have “systematically and intentionally misled consumers” about fossil fuel products’ climate impact. While one might expect that Ellison and Racine would have their sights trained on the social unrest within their jurisdictions and the justice reforms that are legitimately within their purview, the climate show must go on.

Climate Alarmists Eschew Alarmism

With data interpretation and general circulation models in open dispute, the climate debate has turned decidedly political. And it’s all about messaging in this election year. Climate activists hurl the pejorative “denier” at their critics—as in Holocaust denier. The more neutral term, skeptic, is avoided since the climate complex contends that the science is settled and the threat existential. “Climate change poses an existential threat to our future,” states Joe Biden, “and we are running out of time to address it.”

COVID, Climate, and Biden

Along with other topics in his bunker reports, Joe Biden weighed in on President Trump’s prophylactic use of hydroxychloroquine. “It’s like saying maybe if you inject Clorox into your blood it may cure you.” “Hydroxychloroquine” does contain all the letters in “Clorox,” but no serious medical person would equate the two. And though there are studies that fail to find hydroxychloroquine to be effective in combating COVID19, there are others that do. For example, the Henry Ford Health System recently published a peer-reviewed study of over 2,500 patients. Dr. Steven Kalkanis, Chief Academic Officer of the Henry Ford Health System, said, “Our analysis shows that using hydroxychloroquine helped saves lives…the data here is clear that there was benefit to using the drug as a treatment for sick, hospitalized patients.” Of course, one study does not end the debate and we may find that, indeed, hydroxychloroquine is an ineffective therapy for COVID19. On the other hand, hydroxychloroquine may become a standard (and cheap) part of the COVID19-fighting toolbox.

Biden Will Increase Energy Costs for Americans

Presidential candidate Joseph Biden describes the Green New Deal espoused by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats as a “crucial framework” for his climate plan. Biden proposes a carbon tax on fossil fuels, which will be detrimental to America’s world-leading oil and natural gas production and continue to destroy America’s coal industry. Now that America is energy independent for the first time in 75 years, Biden proposes to return America’s energy production to oblivion, thereby affecting our national security, making the United States again dependent on Middle East oil. His new energy taxes would increase prices at the gasoline pump and raise utility bills, hurting American families just when President Trump has lowered taxes and produced a prosperous economy before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

A Global Green New Deal: IEA's Great Reset Plan

A new global energy plan has been unveiled by the Paris-based International Energy Agency. IEA's mission of "shaping a secure and sustainable energy future for all" can be seen as a vital part of what Klaus Schwab, the founder and head of the World Economic Forum, recently called a "Great Reset of Capitalism." Sound the alarm and set the energy gauges; consumer choice in 195 countries with seven billion people must be rescued by national and international government planning.

Biden Could Put a Damper on Pipeline and Other Infrastructure Projects

Presidential candidate Joseph Biden's official climate change plan proclaims "that every federal infrastructure investment should reduce climate pollution" and would require "any federal permitting decision to consider the effects of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change." That is an indication Biden would make it difficult for developers to obtain federal permits to build fossil fuel infrastructure such as pipelines and liquefied natural gas export facilities. To slow the permitting process, Biden could require onerous and lengthy reviews to evaluate whether a project's economic impact is outweighed by its potential emissions impact, i.e., he could make the process so burdensome and expensive for pipeline developers that they cancel the project.

As Natural Gas Demand Increases, Pipeline Approvals Remain Stagnant

Natural gas is being shipped by truck out of the Marcellus basin in Pennsylvania due to a shortage of natural gas pipelines. While it is cheaper and faster to move natural gas by pipeline rather than by truck, environmentalists are fighting the construction of new pipelines. The lack of pipelines is impacting the price of natural gas, which is selling at about a 25 percent discount in the Marcellus basin compared to the Henry Hub in Louisiana due to the inaccessibility of getting the natural gas to markets. To enable the natural gas to reach demand centers in New England and New York, the Trump administration just approved shipping natural gas by rail in chilled, liquefied form. As with truck shipment, the cost is greater by rail than by pipeline. Unfortunately, some natural gas producers have had to flare their gas (burn the gas into the atmosphere) due to the lack of shipping opportunities. Stopping pipelines and using truck and rail instead means increased inefficiencies and greater impact on the environment.

Arkansas Net Metering Order Issued

Arkansas will maintain its net metering policy. The state will continue to require that owners of rooftop solar arrays and other distributed generation are compensated at the regular retail rate of electricity for their net excess generation. This 1:1 compensation applies to both residential and non-residential customers.

Biden Will Revoke Keystone XL Pipeline Permit

Former Vice President and current Democratic Party presidential candidate Joseph Biden has committed to rescinding President Trump’s permit allowing the Keystone XL oil pipeline to cross the Canadian border into the United States if elected. In 2008, TransCanada filed paperwork for a Keystone XL pipeline, extending from Canada through Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska, and connecting with the existing Keystone pipeline that would move 830,000 barrels per day of oil to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.

DOE Lab Finds Wind Output Plunges When Tax Credits End

Investor Warren Buffet once famously said: “For example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.” A recent study by one of DOE’s premier National Labs seems to prove his point.