In the Pipeline

The Biden administration has been active over the past month in producing policies to put future domestic oil and gas production on public lands in jeopardy. Specifically, he has proposed removal of 13 million acres from the National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska, finalized policies that increase the cost of producing oil and gas on federal land, and cut the amount of land to be leased for oil and gas development in a New Mexico auction by over 3000 acres. These are on top of holding the...

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), its emissions tailpipe rule will reduce total greenhouse gas emissions over 2027 to 2055 by 7.2 billion metric tons. Applying EPA’s climate model, the rule would reduce global temperatures in 2100 by 0.0068 degrees Celsius — an effect far too small to be detectable, which is why EPA admits  it “did not…specifically quantify changes in climate impacts resulting from this rule in terms of avoided temperature change or sea-level...

A major flaw in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is that there is effectively no cap on the tax subsidies that President Biden provides to his favorite “green” technologies. Despite more than four decades  of subsidies for wind and solar technologies, the IRA continues to subsidize these technologies as if they were still emerging, which they are not. As Biden continues handing out taxpayer funds that promote these technologies, their intermittent production is causing instability to...

The United States could be a major global lithium producer if it were not for policies and regulations by the federal and state governments, which are hampering efforts to break China’s control of the critical minerals sector. Global lithium demand is expected to outpace supply by 500,000 metric tons  annually by 2030 due to the push for a “clean” energy transition. Unless the United States can increase its lithium production, the country’s manufacturers will be reliant on China and...

On March 29, 2024, Good Friday, Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled out its new electric truck mandate, which will require that electric semi-trucks make up an increasing share of manufacturer sales from 2027 through 2032, similar to its recent rule for passenger cars. EPA’s rule would effectively require electric models to account for 60 percent of new urban delivery trucks and 25 percent of long-haul tractor sales by 2032. The electric truck mandate is  even more...

Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has requested comments on a waiver sought by the California Air Resources Board to implement new proposed state regulations on freight rail trains that are stricter than the current national Clean Air Act standards. Under California’s proposed rule , starting in 2030, no train older than 23 years may operate in the state, despite locomotives usually lasting 40 years. The proposal also calls for increased use of zero-emissions technology to...