Energy Tomorrow Blog

Good Energy Policy is Good for America

alaska  anwr  american energy  Economy  jobs  exports  fracking 

Mary Schaper
Posted February 11, 2015

Alaska Dispatch News (Op-ed Charlotte Brower): The Iñupiat Eskimo lived on Alaska’s North Slope for countless generations -- unknown to the outside world. Our culture, social structure and our survival depended on our ability to utilize the abundant resources that bless our region. Over time, we found our lifestyle threatened when the thirst for resources drove others to our corner of globe, first for whales and later for oil. Today, we are under assault by people who seek another resource -- wilderness. And just like those who came before them, they threaten the health of our communities, our culture and our way of life. President Obama’s announcement to seek wilderness designations throughout the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, represents the latest salvo by the powerful environmental lobby to obtain their El Dorado.

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Shale Energy, Imports and Global Markets

oil imports  refineries  eia  energy exports  hydraulic fracturing  fracking  infrastructure  pipeline construction 

Mary Schaper
Posted February 10, 2015

EIA Today in Energy: The increase in U.S. shale and tight crude oil production has resulted in a decrease of crude oil imports to the U.S. Gulf Coast area, particularly for light-sweet and light-sour crude oils. These trends are visualized in EIA's crude import tracking tool, which allows for time-series analysis of crude oil imported to the United States.

Historically, Gulf Coast refineries have imported as much as 1.3 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of light-sweet crude oil, more than any other region of the country. Beginning in 2010, improvements to the crude distribution system and sustained increases in production in the region (in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins) have significantly reduced light crude imports. Since September 2012, imports of light-sweet crude oil to the Gulf Coast have regularly been less than 200,000 bbl/d. Similarly, Gulf Coast imports of light crude with higher sulfur content (described as light-sour) have declined and have been less than 200,000 bbl/d since July 2013.

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American Energy Leads

american energy  Economy  jobs  growth  infrastructure  texas  exports  fracking  keystone xl pipeline 

Mary Schaper
Posted February 9, 2015

CNN Money: In October 2011, my colleague Blake Ellis and I traveled to western North Dakota to report on the accelerating oil boom. A lot has changed since then.

In oil towns like Williston and Watford City, massive amounts of infrastructure have been built in just the last three years. Here's a look at some of the bigger projects:

 

People: Populations in once-small towns soared as people from around the country (and the world) migrated to the area for jobs. Williston Mayor Howard Klug says that the city of under 15,000 in the 2010 census now has a "serviceable population of 60,000 to 70,000."

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Energy is Redrawing U.S. Trade Picture

trade  american energy  fracking  exports  pipelines  small business 

Mary Schaper
Posted February 6, 2015

Wall Street Journal: The U.S. oil boom is redrawing America’s trade picture. Petroleum imports accounted for less than 20% of the nation’s trade deficit last year, down from more than 40% only five years earlier, according to figures for 2014 released Thursday. But the overall U.S. appetite for overseas goods didn’t diminish over the period, which started with the global economy’s first full year of expansion after the 2007-09 recession. Imports of just about everything else have surged as Americans substitute other goods for foreign oil, leaving a growing trade deficit. “If we hadn’t had this oil boom I think our deficit would be lot larger than it is right now,” said IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport. “It’s a game-changer.”

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Getting Our Energy Policy Right

american energy  policy  biofuels  ethanol  rfs34  fracking  keystone xl pipeline 

Mary Schaper
Posted February 5, 2015

Denver Post Editorial: Yet another major environmental organization has concluded that biofuels, including ethanol, are a net detriment to the world — both in environmental and economic terms. The World Resources Institute (WRI) "recommends against dedicating land to produce bioenergy. The lesson: do not grow food or grass crops for ethanol or diesel or cut down trees for electricity." Why? The group, based in Washington, D.C., says converting plants into fuel is a terribly inefficient use of land, can never produce a major portion of the world's supplies, and puts pressure on cropland that is needed to feed the world's growing population, among other things.

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U.S. Energy – For Jobs, Government Revenue, More Trade

american energy  Economy  jobs  trade  manufacturing  exports  policy  ethanol  rfs34  keystone xl pipeline  fracking 

Mary Schaper
Posted February 3, 2015

NPR: As the economy continues to recover, economists are seeing stark differences between people with high school and college degrees. Four-year college graduates are nearly twice as likely to have a job compared to Americans who just graduated high school and stopped there. But economists say that doesn't mean everybody needs a four-year degree. In fact, millions of good-paying jobs are opening up in the trades. And some pay better than what the average college graduate makes.

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Energy Infrastructure, for Energy, Jobs, Security

american energy  infrastructure  innovation  fracking  Economy  revenue  keystone xl 

Mary Schaper
Posted February 2, 2015

Philadelphia Inquirer (Kevin Colosimo): Gov. Wolf has fulfilled a campaign promise to ban natural-gas drilling on state parklands, but he should ignore suggestions that he go further by instituting a statewide fracking ban. Simply put, a ban would kill the goose that has delivered a lot of golden eggs to the commonwealth. Consider: The natural-gas industry has contributed $34.7 billion to our economy, accounting for 5.8 percent of Pennsylvania's economic activity, according to an American Petroleum Institute study. The same study determined that the oil and natural-gas industry supports 339,000 jobs, or roughly 4.7 percent of the state's total employment. Shale development has generated more than $2 billion in state taxes, according to the state Department of Revenue.

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Energy Progress, Opportunity

american energy  energy policy  lng exports  ozone  epa  emssions  fracking  ethanol 

Mary Schaper
Posted January 30, 2015

Support for LNG exports has gained momentum on Capitol Hill, with both the House and Senate advancing legislation this week that would help expedite federal approvals for exporting our plentiful natural gas. In a Senate Energy Committee hearing yesterday, an Energy Department official told lawmakers the legislation “is a solution [the agency] will be able to comply with.” Good news as both sides of the aisle tackle vital energy issues in the 114th Congress.

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America’s Energy Reality – and Potential

keystone xl  emissions  lng exports  Economy  jobs  arctic  alaska  policy 

Mary Schaper
Posted January 29, 2015

National Journal: Over the past six years, the Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline has become a powerful symbol in the midst of a national debate over energy security and climate change. Opponents warn that construction would speed Canadian oil-sands development, which could spell "game over" for the planet. But despite its iconic status, Keystone would generate far fewer emissions than the nation's fleet of power plants, a source of emissions that the president has pledged to crack down on as part of his climate agenda.

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Good Energy Policies and American Prosperity

american energy  Economy  Energy Security  growth  ethanol  fracking  lng exports 

Mary Schaper
Posted January 28, 2015

The Guardian (Debbie Carlson): Ethanol was supposed to do a lot for the US. It was supposed to help reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It was supposed to combat climate change. It was supposed to be a gateway for more renewable fuels technology. It was supposed to reduce gasoline prices because it was cheaper. So when Congress mandated in 2005 that 10% of the nation’s fuel supply had to be blended with ethanol, which is derived from corn, there were some idealistic hopes that renewable fuels would wean us off fossil fuels. It hasn’t worked that way.

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