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In the 1989 hit film, Field of Dreams, Iowa farmer, Ray Kinsella, hears a voice telling him, “If you build it, he will come.”  In a totally irrational move, Ray plows under a chunk of his corn crop and builds a baseball field.  Magic ensues.  In DC, and around the world, the policymakers seem to be hearing a voice encouraging a twist on this craziness, “If you destroy them, it will come.”

In this energy-policy script, the transition to clean, abundant, affordable, renewable...

Senator Joe Manchin is seeking a bill on permitting reform this fiscal year that could help accelerate wind- and solar-power projects as well as pipelines for oil and gas. Utility energy projects such as power transmission lines and offshore wind farms as well as oil and gas pipeline projects can be delayed for years and costs increased due to opposition from environmentalists and court challenges. Building a power line spanning several states, for example, can now take about a decade , up...

Mexico’s newest oil refinery is not yet operational since it is behind schedule and over budget, but President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the refinery as a centerpiece to his goal of securing Mexico’s energy independence, which President Trump had secured for Americans in 2019 and which President Biden is destroying through his energy and climate policies. Mexico is ignoring (as are China, Russia and India) President Biden’s goals of ending the use of oil and natural gas ,...

Biden’s climate and tax bill, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, and last year’s infrastructure law will supposedly cut emissions by 40 percent by 2030—close to Mr. Biden’s goal of cutting emissions roughly in half by then, according to Biden’s Department of Energy. To close the gap between DOE’s estimates and Biden’s promises, the White House intends to pursue new regulations  through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The new climate and tax bill provides billions...

President Biden is depleting the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which is currently at its lowest level in 37 years. On July 26, 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy announced an emergency sale from the reserve of up to 20 million barrels, which will go through the end of October, just prior to the mid-term election in November. And, along with that announcement, Goldman Sachs revised its forecast for gasoline prices upward to $5 a gallon  by the end of the year. Previously, its price...

Europe’s move toward decarbonization 30 years ago has resulted in skyrocketing energy prices, the need for severe conservation, possible rationing that could shut down entire industrial sectors and likely future blackouts. It is the result of the continent moving to unreliable and intermittent renewable energy before it was ready to replace fossil fuels and being overly dependent on Russia for natural gas—the backup fuel to renewables. European countries have closed coal and nuclear...

A federal judge reinstated a moratorium on coal leasing  from federal lands that had been implemented during the Obama administration and was lifted under President Donald Trump. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Brian Morris requires government officials to conduct a new environmental review prior to resuming coal sales from federal lands. According to the judge, the government’s previous review of the program had not adequately considered the impacts of climate change from coal’s...

Senator Manchin said that Democratic leaders had “committed to advancing a suite of commonsense permitting reforms this fall that will ensure all energy infrastructure, from transmission to pipelines and export facilities, can be efficiently and responsibly built.” With that promise, Manchin agreed to the “Inflation Reduction Act” that recently passed the Senate along party lines. But since then, 47 of his fellow Democratic Senators rejected a permit streamlining measure. The  Senate...

The American Energy Alliance urges all members to oppose H.R. 5376, the 2022 budget resolution reconciliation legislation.

The reconciliation package is filled with new taxes and spending that are bad policy at any time, but especially dangerous at a time of high inflation and with the economy tipping into recession. As multiple independent analyses show, this legislation will not reduce inflation despite the title adopted by its proponents. More government spending, more subsidies, and...

According to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton school , “The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” championed by Senator Manchin and Senator Schumer likely would not reduce inflation at all. The study, from the Penn Wharton Budget Model, estimates the proposed bill would cause inflation to ‘very slightly’ rise until 2024 then possibly decline after that. Overall, the researchers indicate that there is “low confidence that the legislation will have any impact on inflation.”...