Background on Energy & Oil

Energy & Oil topics in the 2020 election cycle:

Paris Accord
• Paris Accord: The Paris Agreement for the first time brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. (U.N.)
• PRO-Paris Accord: PRO (National Resources Defense Council): With the Paris accord, leaders from around the world collectively agreed that climate change is driven by human behavior, that it's a threat to the environment and all of humanity, and that global action is needed to stop it. It also created a clear framework for all countries to make emissions reduction commitments and strengthen those actions over time. (NRDC)
• ANTI-Paris Accord: The Paris Climate Accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers--who I love--and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production. (White House)

• TRUMP: Withdraw from Paris Agreement, to put America first (Jun 2017)
• BIDEN: Rejoin and raise standards of Paris Climate Accord (Jul 2019)
• PENCE: Climate change is not an emergency (Jun 2019)
• HARRIS: Rejoin Paris Accord on Day One; carbon neutral by 2030 (Jul 2019)
• News on Paris Climate Accord (Candidates' recent excerpts)

CAFE and Clean Car Standards
• CAFE: NHTSA's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards regulate how far our vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel. The Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule, issued by NHTSA and EPA, sets tough but feasible fuel economy and carbon dioxide standards that increase 1.5% in stringency each year from model years 2021 through 2026. (NHTSA)
• ANTI-CAFE: Under the standards adopted by the Obama administration in 2012, light-duty vehicles would be required to meet the average fleetwide fuel economy equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon in model year 2025. The Trump administration standards require average fuel economy of only about 40 miles per gallon in 2025, with annual increases of 1.5 percent starting in 2021, as opposed to the 5 percent annual increase under the Obama standards. (Desmog)
• PRO-CAFE: Known collectively as the clean car standards, these rules encompass three areas: The air quality standards set limits on soot and smog-forming pollutants; the global warming standards regulate carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gases; and the Zero-Emission Vehicle standards require auto companies to produce ultraclean gasoline and hybrid vehicles. (USC)

• BIDEN: Make every automobile sold be a flex-fuel automobile (Apr 2007)
• PENCE: Voted NO on raising CAFE standards; incentives for alternative fuels (Aug 2001)
• HARRIS: Restore Clean Car Standards (Apr 2019)

Green New Deal
• PRO-Green New Deal: To tackle the climate crisis at the speed that justice and science demand, a Green New Deal would upgrade our infrastructure, revitalize our energy system, retrofit our buildings, and restore our ecosystems. To counteract inequality, those benefits would go first and foremost to the working class families and communities of color that have endured the brunt of the fossil fuel economy. (Sierra Club)
• ANTI-Green New Deal: Researchers estimate it would take more than $5 trillion just to switch from coal, nuclear and natural gas to 100% renewables. The Green New Deal would massively expand the size and scope of the federal government's control over activities best left to the private sector. (Heritage Foundation)

• TRUMP: Green New Deal does not fulfill America's energy needs (Mar 2017)
• BIDEN: I support the Biden Plan, not the Green New Deal (Sep 2020)
• PENCE: Biden's plan is a $2 trillion version of Green New Deal (Oct 2020)
• HARRIS: Green New Deal sets agenda for dealing with climate change (Apr 2019)
• Reform Party Nominee Rocky De La FUENTE: America has potential to be renewable energy powerhouse (Mar 2020)
• News on Green New Deal (Candidates' recent excerpts)

Clean Coal update
• PRO-Clean Coal: Though many coal plants have closed in recent years due to competition from cheap natural gas and subsidized solar and wind energy, coal still accounts for about 20% of U.S. generating capacity and much more in states where manufacturers demand a reliable supply of baseload electricity. (Real Clear Energy)
• ANTI-Clean Coal: The overwhelming evidence shows that coal is dying. Natural gas is already cheaper. Natural gas killed the coal power plant, and renewable energy has the potential to power the world without destroying it in the process. Coal is over. (Popular Science)

• TRUMP: End the war on beautiful clean coal (Jan 2018)
• BIDEN: No one's building another coal- or gas-fired power plant (Sep 2020)
• PENCE: Coal miners want an American energy policy (Jul 2016)
• Constitution Party Nominee Don BLANKENSHIP: At Massey Coal , struggled against "greeniacs" and union (May 2019)

How much Fossil Fuel remains?
• 285 years of coal: Experts estimate that the United States has about 265 billion tons of coal reserves. If we continue to use coal at the same rate as we do today, we will have enough coal to last 285 years. (UC Boulder)
• Rystad Energy , "The United States again holds more recoverable oil than Saudi Arabia," June 15, 2018
• 79 years of oil: The US has added close to 50 billion barrels over the last year and now holds an estimated 310 billion barrels of recoverable oil with current technologies, equal to 79 years of US oil production at present output levels. (Rystad Energy)
• 92 years of natural gas: Assuming the same annual rate of U.S. dry natural gas production in 2018 of about 30.6 trillion cubic feet, the United States has enough dry natural gas to last about 92 years. (EIA)
• News on Energy Independence (Candidates' recent excerpts)

Climate change hoax theories
• Hoax by "falsified data": The central lie is that we are experiencing a known human-caused climate crisis, a claim based on speculative theories, contrived data and totally unproven modeling predictions. And the evidence? Much is revealed by politically corrupted processes and agenda-driven report conclusions rendered by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which are trumpeted in the media as authoritative gospel. (Forbes)
• Hoax by "God's plan": Warming will happen; then cooling will take place. It has already been arranged by God Himself, as He has told us in Genesis 8:22 "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." (Lenawee Christian)
• Hoax by "Profit motive": Journalists and politicians have failed to exercise due diligence in researching the issue in depth. What is the motive for all this? Simply "follow the money." Al Gore, has made over $100 million from his movie, book, and lectures. (Summit Daily)

• TRUMP: Climate change isn't a hoax, but don't spend trillions on it (Oct 2018)
• BIDEN: Climate change not only a crisis but an enormous opportunity (Aug 2020)
• PENCE: Climate change is not a resolved issue in science (Jul 2016)
• HARRIS: Climate crisis represents existential threat to our species (Jun 2019)
• News on Global Warming (Candidates' recent excerpts)
  

• TRUMP: Jobs will slump until our lifeblood--oil--is cheap again (Dec 2011)
• BIDEN: Voted YES on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies (Jun 2007)
• PENCE: Voted NO on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies (Jan 2007)
• HARRIS: Carbon-neutral America by 2035 (Oct 2020)
• News on Alternative Energy (Candidates' recent excerpts)

Clean Power Plan
• PRO-Clean Power Plan: President Obama and EPA announced the Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan will reduce carbon pollution from power plants, the nation's largest source, while maintaining energy reliability and affordability. These are the first-ever national standards that address carbon pollution from power plants. (EPA 2015)
• ANTI-Clean Power Plan: EPA issued the final Affordable Clean Energy rule (ACE)--replacing the prior administration's overreaching Clean Power Plan with a rule that restores rule of law, empowers states, and supports energy diversity. The ACE rule establishes emission guidelines for states to use when developing plans to limit carbon dioxide (CO2) at their coal-fired electric generating units. (EPA 2019)
• ANTI-Affordable Clean Energy: The EPA defends its decision to dismantle the Clean Power Plan and replace it with the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule. ACE is destructive, costly, and unlawful. EPA projects that ACE will reduce power sector emissions by a mere 0.7% by 2030, and will increase pollution at nearly one in five of the nation's coal plants, (EDF)

• TRUMP: Rolled back Clean Power Plan; it increased energy prices (Sep 2020)
• BIDEN: Undo what Trump has done, from CAFE to other standards (Sep 2019)
• PENCE: Sued Obama administration on Clean Energy Plan (Jan 2016)
• HARRIS: Restore Clean Power Plan Obama-era climate change regulation (Apr 2019)
• Green Party Nominee Howie HAWKINS: 100% Clean Energy by 2030, rebuild manufacturing (May 2019)

Global Warming
• Greenhouse gases: Atmospheric gases which keep heat in, like greenhouse glass does. The most common greenhouse gas (GHG) is carbon dioxide (CO2), which comes from burning gasoline, wood, oil, etc. The evidence of rising CO2 levels is undisputed; the political dispute centers on how much of the rise is attributable to human activities versus how much is natural climatic fluctuation.
• Global Warming: Increase in worldwide temperature due to excess emissions of greenhouse gases. A few degrees rise in temperature, in theory, would cause rising sea levels, more extreme weather, and climate chan

Domestic Energy
• Energy Independence: The 2016 elections debate how to decrease imported energy -- with Democrats focusing on alternative energy and Republicans focusing on increased domestic production of fossil fuels. With the advent of fracking, the U.S. has become much more energy-independent: Net energy imports have fallen from a high of 30% in 2006, to about 13% net imports in 2013. During 2015, net energy imports have fallen to the lowest levels since 1985, and sometime in 2016 the U.S. may have achieve a net import rate of 0% (which defines energy independence).

• Keystone XL: The Keystone Pipeline project brings oil from Canada through eight states to refineries in Illinois and Texas. The Keystone XL is a proposed shortcut (through Montana instead of North Dakota), which would shorten the route and increase capacity. The Keystone pipeline itself was completed in 2014; the Keystone XL expansion was passed by Congress in early 2015. President Obama vetoed Keystone XL because the new route passed through an environmentally-sensitive area in Nebraska.

• All-of-the-Above: In 2016, the phrase "all-of-the-above" has come to mean support of investing in alternative energy while simultaneously supporting nuclear power and more oil and gas drilling. The focus of an "all-of-the-above" stance is to decrease America's dependence on imported oil, by increasing domestic supplies of oil plus other energy sources, rather than a focus on replacing oil with renewable energy sources.

• Cap-and-Trade: refers to a carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions policy where the amount of CO2 is "capped" at a government-specified emission amount, and then the right to emit CO2 is "traded" via emission permits. The result would be instituting a new fee for emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. A similar program was used successfully to battle acid rain via sulfur dioxide emission permits trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

• China Deal: The "U.S.-China Joint Presidential Announcement on Climate Change" was issued in November 2015. The two countries commit to transitioning "to low-carbon economies, mindful of the 2° C global temperature goal" established in international nego¬tiations. Its relevance is that the U.S. is the largest carbon emitter, representing the developed world, while China is the fastest-growing economy, representing the developing world.

• CO2: refers to carbon dioxide, the single largest greenhouse gas, but there are numerous other greenhouse gases too. Because CO2 has become so politicized, especially opposition to "Cap-and-Trade" and the Kyoto Protocol, many environmentalists have begun focusing on reducing other greenhouse gases, such as methane, as more politically achievable.

• OCS: refers to drilling for oil off the Outer Continental Shelf, several miles offshore. States control oil drilling in waters up to three miles offshore; the federal government controls waters from that distance until the continental shelf ends and the deep ocean begins (a maximum of about 350 miles offshore). Conservatives favor OCS drilling to reach more potential oil reserves; liberals cite the greater technical challenges and the higher risk of oil spills.

• Carbon sequestration: refers to removing CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere and keeping it "sequestered," or captured and stored, in a way that the CO2 cannot return to the atmosphere. Nature performs the simplest form of carbon sequestration: growing trees, which convert CO2 into wood. Human methods include chemical processes; burying CO2 underground; or mineralization (converting to carbonate rocks).

• Clean coal: refers to implementing methods for carbon capture and storage at coal-burning plants. Sequestering CO2 from coal plants involves filtering smokestack emissions (called "CO2 scrubbing"); capturing CO2 gas; and chemical conversion into stable solids. As of 2012, some smokestack experiments successfully demonstrate the techniques, but none are yet in commercial use.

• Domestic production advocate often cite "The Marcellus Shale", a natural-gas-rich formation under New York and the Appalachians -- it requires separating the gas from rock and methane.

• Other shale-gas deposits are currently estimated to total 827 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, an equivalent to all of Saudi Arabia's oil. Members of both parties -- including Pres. Obama -- cite the potential of shale gas.

• Separating the natural gas requires "fracking", which uses large quantities of toxins, sand, and water; dealing with millions of gallons of toxic wastewater is the biggest side-effect.

• Solyndra: The Obama administration gave the solar panel company Solyndra a $500 million in federal loan guarantees; that company ended up bankrupt, hence costing the taxpayers $500M. In 2011, the GOP presidential primary contenders cited this issue often.

• “Fracking” is short for “hydraulic fracturing,” a process used in 90% of natural gas wells. Fracking injects fluid underground at high pressure to fracture rock and release oil or gas trapped inside the formation. The champions of natural gas promote it as a clean energy alternative, but opponents note that fracking fluid is laced with toxic chemicals that have not been fully tested or disclosed to the public. Some research (June 2012) indicates that fracking has a low risk of triggering earthquakes,

Gas Crisis
• $4 gas: Gasoline spiked to record high levels over $4 per gallon in the summer of 2008, forcing energy issues to the forefront of the election.

• Gas Tax Holiday: Politicians focused on the short-term economic pain caused by high gas prices, and called for a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax to drive down prices. Sen. John McCain and Sen. Hillary Clinton both called for a summer gas tax holiday, but Sen. Barack Obama called that a short-term "gimmick". High gas prices have stimulated high interest in fuel-efficient vehicles and have made hybrid vehicles cost-effective, while also stimulating record levels of ridership on mass transit systems.

• Offshore Drilling: Congress banned new offshore drilling in 1981, but in Aug. 2008 Pres. Bush called for a restart of drilling. It is still pending Congressional action, but has become central to the political debate on energy. Democrats argue that million of acres offshore are available but undrilled (true, but the oil companies would prefer the more likely new areas). Republicans argue that high gas prices mean we need to "Drill here & drill now" (irrelevant, since offshore drilling takes years before the first delivery).

• Drill, baby, drill: The mantra of the 2008 Republican National Convention is a political statement more than an economic statement, because of the long lag time between drilling and its effect on actual oil prices. The mantra, most associated with Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, implies that one supports domestic oil & gas production, over developing alternative energy supplies, and especially over continuing to import foreign oil.

• Energy Independence: Both liberals and conservatives favor the US becoming less dependent on foreign oil supplies. The key difference is in what would replace those foreign oil supplies. Conservatives focus on replacing them with domestic oil supplies, while liberals focus on replacing them with non-fossil fuels.

• Nuclear energy: Mitt Romney pushed in the 2012 campaign for opening new nuclear plants, as a carbon-free alternative to energy needs. At issue is the ability (or inability) of the NRC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to open new nuclear plants. The last new nuclear plant to come on-line in the US was in 1996, due to both political and economic issues. Pres. Obama promoted new nuclear plants during as part of a comprehensive energy plan; the NRC accordingly approved a new nuclear plant design in Dec. 2011, the first in decades.

• Nuclear renaissance: Since 2011, construction permits have been issued to dozens of new reactors, with construction underway at five of them (this compares to 100 existing reactors at 62 different nuclear plant sites). Proponents describe this as the beginning of a “nuclear renaissance.”

• Yucca Mountain: Since the 1980s, the federal government has been "studying" Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a permanent repository for nuclear waste. Yucca Mountain, about 80 miles from the Las Vegas, is called the "deep geological repository storage facility" because the radioactive waste would be buried deep in a mountain for the thousands of years that it remains dangerous. Delays have plagued the opening of Yucca Mountain because of its political controversy. The latest issue is how nuclear waste would be transported to Yucca Mountain, since it would travel by truck through other states in secret. Congress canceled the program under President Obama in April 2011. Lawsuits are continuing into 2015.

• Cellulosic Ethanol: Ethanol as a fuel source has been increasing, primarily due to political pressure from farming states (ethanol is made from corn crops). Quantities of ethanol production for fuel have been high enough to drive food prices higher, so now the political pressure is to switch to non-food-based ethanol. Hence "cellulosic ethanol" replaces corn-based ethanol with ethanol from non-edible sources such as woodchips, switchgrass, and cornstalks. Environmentalists point out that the production of corn-based ethanol requires almost as much energy as the fuel that results from the production -- hence they view corn-based ethanol as having mixed value for global warming. "Biofuels" is the more general term for using biological sources to make ethanol for fuel; it includes both cellulosic ethanol and corn-based ethanol.

• Strategic Petroleum Reserve: (SPR): Since the 1970s gas crises, the federal governmnet has been stockpiling oil in four underground caverns in Texas & Louisiana. The supply as of July 2008 is 700 million barrels, or about 33 days of the total US consumption. In July 2008, Congress suspended filling the SPR, to put downward pressure on gas prices. Congress could order sales from the SPR, for further downward price pressure -- the last SPR sale was in 2005 in response to Hurricane Katrina.

• Oil Refineries: Many politicians call for allowing new oil refineries to be built in the US. No new oil refineries have been built in the US since 1976 (though many have been expanded). The difficulties and cost are primarily for compliance with EPA regulations; hence calling for new oil refineries implies relaxing EPA regulations.

Energy Issues
• ANWR: The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area in northern Alaska that contains substantial supplies of oil and gas. Conservatives favor drilling ANWR to extract the oil, while liberals favor maintaining its protected status.

• Deregulation Crisis: California suffered ‘rolling blackouts’ in 2001 due to insufficient energy supplies. California had partially deregulated its energy industry, by freeing retail prices, but maintaining controls on wholesale prices. Conservatives favor full deregulation and/or building more energy supply as a solution; liberals favor conservation and better regulation of energy delivery systems.

• Energy Conservation: Americans are by far the least energy-efficient people in the industrialized world, primarily due to the heavy reliance on personal automobiles. Liberals favor ongoing efforts toward conservation, via more efficient automobiles and appliances, as well as voluntary usage restrictions; the goal is to avoid the need for additional energy imports or oil drilling.

• Alternative Energy: The federal government regularly funds research into solar power, wind power, wave power, biomass power, and other alternative energy sources, but none are competitively priced with gas and oil at the present time. Liberals contend that gas and oil prices are kept artificially low by federal intervention (including military action in the Mideast), which results in policy prescriptions like President Clinton’s proposed ‘BTU Tax’ in the early 1990s, intended to foster alternative energy development.

• CAFE standard: The ‘Corporate Average Fuel Economy’ requires that all automobile manufacturers maintain an average of 28 miles per gallon (mpg) for all vehicles sold.