8/1/2023

Energy Realism this past week discussed the clear need for less burdensome regulations and why we must support America's oil & gas business.

Travis Fisher got us started last week: the U.S. power grid is already straining under excess regulations, with blackouts possible, but now the EPA has proposed even more rules that promise to cause even more major problems. The unintended consequences of excessive rules are obscured by the flawed assumptions the EPA uses in assessing the effects that they will have on grid reliability and cost. Americans simply cannot make informed decisions about EPA regulations – like choosing whether to support or oppose them – when the assessments do not reflect reality. But no matter what, we can all agree that we need to massively expand and update the power grid, namely to bring more wind and solar into the mix. Chris Barnard looks at the economic benefits of more transmission. Viewing transmission lines merely as a financial black hole risks overlooking what could, in fact, be a veritable economic boom for communities across this country.

Joshua Trott also argues that our inability to build, really, just about anything is blocking any chance of an “energy transition.” So much of the conversation focuses on the tired and misleading narrative about Oil & Gas villains vs. Renewable heroes. The true enemy of our sustainable energy future is the nation’s broken infrastructure policy. We could greenlight every renewable project in development today and innovate every piece of technology needed to meet our climate goals, and it would not matter because we lack the ability to utilize and store the energy created. Indeed, Mike Sommers realizes just how integral oil & gas is to the energy-climate conversation. This is obvious since those fuels supply 65% of America’s energy but the industry’s willingness and efforts in cutting methane emissions in particular should be applauded. Our Essential Reading then comes from the Centre Policy Studies, and why environmentalists should support fracking. The global climate goal is to help still developing countries fuel switch from coal to cleaner natural gas, so shale technologies should be continually developed and shared without restraint.