The American Petroleum Institute (API), the lobbying arm of the oil and gas industry, has intensified its efforts to exploit Russia's invasion of Ukraine to push the United States government to roll back environmental protections, open up more federal land for drilling, and greenlight the construction of pipelines.
And this, just this morning, from fellow Substacker Walt Hickey's Numlock News:
Building codes are incredibly technical, and for that reason the codes produced every three years by the ICC — a group that takes input from governments, industry and environmentalists — are the boilerplate building codes adopted by local municipalities around the country. For such a niche topic, there’s a ton on the line here; the energy use of buildings is around 40 percent of all carbon emissions, factoring in the cost of heating them. In 2019, lots of cities that were ticked off with how slowly the ICC was upping the energy efficiency requirements of homes got motivated and started ramping up participation. The effect was massive: The 2018 code improved efficiency by 1 percent, but the 2021 code increased efficiency by up to 14 percent, which would reduce up to 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2030. That success triggered a reaction from the industry, though; last March, they revoked local official’s vote on the final version of codes, and already gas companies are getting new potential requirements about in-home electric vehicle charging infrastructure pulled from the 2024 code.
Thanks for sharing. The article shows how difficult it is for Americans to wean themselves from fossil fuels. Moving away from fossil fuels not only helps the environment and improves public health, but also helps American independence and is strategically important. We should be lobbying all our representatives to get us off fossil fuels.
Wonderful report, Judd, and long overdue. Corporations have held America and the world hostage in so many ways, and it is way pas time to curb their power over ordinary citizens.
Rich people being rich people. With all their money, it's never enough, they want to rape the American people for money. Never content at 1 billion in profits, must have 5 billion in profits. Keep the poor folks poor and the wealthy, rich and looking down at the rest of us. Shameful!
In 1973, just before the Oil Embargo. gas averaged 0.36, where I lived it was 0.30. When the embargo went into effect gas rose to 0.55, and a year or so later to 0.60. In 1974 USG mandated a 55 mph cap on all highways, to reduce oil consumption. It also saved a lot of lives. Of course there were truck conveys protesting, but the speed limit stayed at 55 for 20 years.
Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the WH, and asked people to lower their thermostats in winter and wear a sweater. It worked, lines at the gas pumps abated, we used less oil. We don't hear anything about that sort of initiative now. Why? Citizen's United. Until that disastrous SCOTUS decision is fixed we will continue to decline in our abilities to adjust our culture to a more sustainable one, not just in this country, but also globally.
In a March 4 press release, API suggested Biden was responsible for Russia's decision to invade Ukraine because he failed to cater to the fossil fuel industry. According to API, the fact that the Biden administration considered taxes on the industry and talked about using more clean energy in the future encouraged Putin to attack.
Why is no one talking about the Venezuelan oil embargo?Venezuelan oil is nationalized, and obviously would be in competition with exxon and other oil giants who can’t tap into that market. If the embargo was lifted, it would lower prices and take away some of Putin’s power, allowing a shift from Russian oil. Exxon, BP, Shell, and others are transnational corporations, not American companies, but have corrupted our government with a successful lobbying campaign. The claim that the embargo is because Venezuela’s government is corrupt, a failed democracy, is such BS. Maduro was elected, and the embargo serves to destabilize the economy, fueling skyrocketing inflation and unemployment and leaving its citizens in poverty. Our interference in Latin American governments has never turned out well.
I have written to Senators, media outlets, asking about the embargo with no response. Judd, please shed some light here. Others tend to pick up on your voice and platform.
API came up in a Psaki press conference last week. A reporter interviewed an exec from API about more oil production and the exec talked about federal disincentives and lack of new drilling permits. The reporter wanted to know if the admin was looking into this. Psaki said she thought API avoided the interviewer’s question because there were already 9000 untapped oil leases. If these leases are legit options for the industry, then ‘9000 untapped oil leases’ should be repeated over and over and over. It’s a mid-term campaign that writes itself.
This is a clear danger of allowing our elections to be decided by few and corrupted by republicans at every turn! President Gore legally won the election. His dedication to environmental issues would have us living in a MUCH better world today.
An additional point is that America keeps a strategic reserve of over 700 million barrels, which would last us over a month even if no oil was being pumped or processed anywhere across the globe. However, American oil companies are still pumping and processing to meet our needs, so the immediate price increases are clear attempts to exploit Americans during the crisis and profit the oil companies. Over time, one would expect the crisis to impact the average price per barrel, but our price at the pump should not be jumping wildly right now. Readers should call out the oil companies for that.
On the positive side, consumers now have alternatives to dealing with the crisis du jour on oil- choose electric vehicles. They last longer, have lower maintenance costs, get Americans to be less dependent on oil from other countries, and are better for the environment.
Fossil fuel companies see this as an opportunity to loosen regulations and "drill baby drill." But real energy independence should come from renewables (and using less energy). Germany has pledged to be 100% renewable by 2035, and their finance minister called it "Freedom Energy". So I'm trying to start a meme about Renewable Energy = Freedom Energy! https://imgur.com/eKCBRZp
Obviously, the actions of API are reprehensible, but the notion the Biden administration is issuing *more* drilling permits than its predecessor is not to be overlooked. Especially heading into the midterms, it really undercuts the message that the Democratic Party is worth supporting in this regard,, on top of, you know, helping accelerate a climate crisis.
Go get 'em Judd. Like water and oil, it seems oil and democracy don't mix well.
And this, just this morning, from fellow Substacker Walt Hickey's Numlock News:
Building codes are incredibly technical, and for that reason the codes produced every three years by the ICC — a group that takes input from governments, industry and environmentalists — are the boilerplate building codes adopted by local municipalities around the country. For such a niche topic, there’s a ton on the line here; the energy use of buildings is around 40 percent of all carbon emissions, factoring in the cost of heating them. In 2019, lots of cities that were ticked off with how slowly the ICC was upping the energy efficiency requirements of homes got motivated and started ramping up participation. The effect was massive: The 2018 code improved efficiency by 1 percent, but the 2021 code increased efficiency by up to 14 percent, which would reduce up to 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2030. That success triggered a reaction from the industry, though; last March, they revoked local official’s vote on the final version of codes, and already gas companies are getting new potential requirements about in-home electric vehicle charging infrastructure pulled from the 2024 code.
Alexander C. Kaufman, HuffPost
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/building-codes-climate_n_621e4b69e4b0afc668c68e59
Thanks for sharing. The article shows how difficult it is for Americans to wean themselves from fossil fuels. Moving away from fossil fuels not only helps the environment and improves public health, but also helps American independence and is strategically important. We should be lobbying all our representatives to get us off fossil fuels.
Saw this as well and was going to comment on it. Thanks for beating me to the punch! :-)
Important underreported angle of inner workings and influence of our own domestic oligarchy. Nice, if thoroughly nauseating, reporting. Thank you.
Greed is not only affecting the effectiveness of sanctions, but also cares very little about the future of the planet.
You have probably already checked this out, but here is the EIA's chart of US oil imports from Russia from 1996 to 2022 -- https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mttim_nus-nrs_1&f=m
Al Jazeera has a helpful chart showing the source of all US oil imports -- mostly from Canada, with only 8 percent from Russia -- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/3/how-much-oil-does-the-us-import-from-russia
Thank you for your reporting on another instance of Wall Street greed. Last year, I removed investments in fossil fuels from my retirement IRA.
Wonderful report, Judd, and long overdue. Corporations have held America and the world hostage in so many ways, and it is way pas time to curb their power over ordinary citizens.
Rich people being rich people. With all their money, it's never enough, they want to rape the American people for money. Never content at 1 billion in profits, must have 5 billion in profits. Keep the poor folks poor and the wealthy, rich and looking down at the rest of us. Shameful!
In 1973, just before the Oil Embargo. gas averaged 0.36, where I lived it was 0.30. When the embargo went into effect gas rose to 0.55, and a year or so later to 0.60. In 1974 USG mandated a 55 mph cap on all highways, to reduce oil consumption. It also saved a lot of lives. Of course there were truck conveys protesting, but the speed limit stayed at 55 for 20 years.
Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the WH, and asked people to lower their thermostats in winter and wear a sweater. It worked, lines at the gas pumps abated, we used less oil. We don't hear anything about that sort of initiative now. Why? Citizen's United. Until that disastrous SCOTUS decision is fixed we will continue to decline in our abilities to adjust our culture to a more sustainable one, not just in this country, but also globally.
WE MUST MUST MUST KILL BIG OIL
or civilisation is DOOMED.
In a March 4 press release, API suggested Biden was responsible for Russia's decision to invade Ukraine because he failed to cater to the fossil fuel industry. According to API, the fact that the Biden administration considered taxes on the industry and talked about using more clean energy in the future encouraged Putin to attack.
#MangoWanker #Turdking #Mobster Cabal
#GOPtraitors against humanity
#MurdochWanker
well if oil & gas isn't taking advantage of the boom in drilling permits, maybe the Biden administration should just cancel them all....
Why is no one talking about the Venezuelan oil embargo?Venezuelan oil is nationalized, and obviously would be in competition with exxon and other oil giants who can’t tap into that market. If the embargo was lifted, it would lower prices and take away some of Putin’s power, allowing a shift from Russian oil. Exxon, BP, Shell, and others are transnational corporations, not American companies, but have corrupted our government with a successful lobbying campaign. The claim that the embargo is because Venezuela’s government is corrupt, a failed democracy, is such BS. Maduro was elected, and the embargo serves to destabilize the economy, fueling skyrocketing inflation and unemployment and leaving its citizens in poverty. Our interference in Latin American governments has never turned out well.
I have written to Senators, media outlets, asking about the embargo with no response. Judd, please shed some light here. Others tend to pick up on your voice and platform.
I second this idea. Did I hear today that Anthony Blinken is headed to Venezuela to talk about oil this week? Something like that?
API came up in a Psaki press conference last week. A reporter interviewed an exec from API about more oil production and the exec talked about federal disincentives and lack of new drilling permits. The reporter wanted to know if the admin was looking into this. Psaki said she thought API avoided the interviewer’s question because there were already 9000 untapped oil leases. If these leases are legit options for the industry, then ‘9000 untapped oil leases’ should be repeated over and over and over. It’s a mid-term campaign that writes itself.
This is a clear danger of allowing our elections to be decided by few and corrupted by republicans at every turn! President Gore legally won the election. His dedication to environmental issues would have us living in a MUCH better world today.
An additional point is that America keeps a strategic reserve of over 700 million barrels, which would last us over a month even if no oil was being pumped or processed anywhere across the globe. However, American oil companies are still pumping and processing to meet our needs, so the immediate price increases are clear attempts to exploit Americans during the crisis and profit the oil companies. Over time, one would expect the crisis to impact the average price per barrel, but our price at the pump should not be jumping wildly right now. Readers should call out the oil companies for that.
On the positive side, consumers now have alternatives to dealing with the crisis du jour on oil- choose electric vehicles. They last longer, have lower maintenance costs, get Americans to be less dependent on oil from other countries, and are better for the environment.
Fossil fuel companies see this as an opportunity to loosen regulations and "drill baby drill." But real energy independence should come from renewables (and using less energy). Germany has pledged to be 100% renewable by 2035, and their finance minister called it "Freedom Energy". So I'm trying to start a meme about Renewable Energy = Freedom Energy! https://imgur.com/eKCBRZp
Obviously, the actions of API are reprehensible, but the notion the Biden administration is issuing *more* drilling permits than its predecessor is not to be overlooked. Especially heading into the midterms, it really undercuts the message that the Democratic Party is worth supporting in this regard,, on top of, you know, helping accelerate a climate crisis.