Democratic charlatans who advocate the Green New Deal apparently have no problem with fossil fuels when it suits their political agenda.
President Joe Biden asking the Saudis to pump more oil after he killed off energy-creating projects in America is one example. Heating fuel for winter offers us another.
According to a recent letter to the Energy Department, 41 Democrats in Congress are demanding that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, use its coercive power to promote “energy justice,” whatever that is.
The liberals want FERC to “influence” retail prices for natural gas and electricity so as to thwart “market manipulation” and ensure “households’ energy bills are not driven up by manipulation, obfuscation, or other malfeasance from regulated entities.”
One may think these guardians of the public good are just out to ensure the little guy isn’t getting fleeced by ‘Big Oil’.
But these oblivious – or cynical – lawmakers also showed that their alleged principles on climate change don’t matter when constituents are crunched by the effects of Biden’s economic policies.
For example, their letter to FERC Chairman Richard Glick notes that the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, has predicted energy rates may climb by as much as 39 percent this winter. That is, compared to just a year ago – when former President Donald Trump was in charge.
The EIA, in its report that the Democrats cite, says, “We expect that households across the United States will spend more on energy this winter compared with the past several winters because of these higher energy prices and because we assume a slightly colder winter than last year in much of the United States.”
Nearly half of U.S. households rely on natural gas for heat in the winter, and they can expect to spend 30 percent more than they spent last winter on average — or as much as 50 percent more if the winter is 10 percent colder than average. Even if the weather is warmer than expected, their heating costs will still rise by 22 percent.
Yet here’s an interesting point. In 2020, America witnessed “historically low” natural gas prices, according to the EIA. Last February, when the big freeze engulfed Texas and other parts of the country, prices spiked but soon returned to “pre-cold snap levels.”
Continuing, the EIA notes that just one year later inventory for natural gas will be 5 percent lower now than the average of the past five years. One reason: “flat production.”
The report notes that Europe and Asia are buying up the inventory of liquified natural gas, while producers are dipping into reserves to meet that demand, as well as the anticipated demand in the U.S. market, but do so without ramping up the pumps.
The Democrats, in their letter, want to accuse Big Oil of “profiteering.”
But the EIA points out that prices are often controlled by state regulatory commissions that set them a year in advance or more. Consequently, retail spikes are passed along to consumers “relatively slowly.”
Except when there is nothing to pipe to consumers because the current White House occupant has made the market for natural gas and other fossil fuels unpalatable.
And although the EIA expects the supply to be “adequate” for this winter, “constrained natural gas supplies can also have ripple effects” on pricing, and drive up costs.
In other words, Biden and the other Green New Deal activists in Congress have left their constituents out in the cold – either literally or financially.
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