No Images? Click here What You Need to Know • Between 2015 and 2017 a Russian-backed propaganda group posted on social media more than 9,000 times about contentious issues like global warming, fracking and the Dakota Access pipeline to increase tensions and influence opinion. • The Trump Administration is imposing a 25% tariff on imported steel and 10% tariff on imported aluminum. This will raise prices for the oil and natural gas industry. • The Northeast is still feeling the negative impact of the lack of pipeline infrastructure as the region continues to endure cost spikes through one of the coldest winters in recent memory. • A federal appeals court denied New York State’s petition to review orders from federal energy regulators that authorized Millennium Pipeline Co to build a natural gas line to a power plant in Orange County, New York. • In its Annual Energy Outlook, the EIA said it expects production of natural gas to jump to 58% out to 2050, from 27 to 43 trillion cubic feet, which should keep the U.S. as the world’s largest producer. Russian Meddling on Social Media Targeted U.S. Energy Industry, Report Says The Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2018 A Russian-backed propaganda group used social media in an attempt to disrupt the U.S. energy industry and influence energy policy, according to a new congressional staff report reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Unlike other Russian campaigns to stir political unrest in the U.S., this effort by the tech-savvy Internet Research Agency is characterized as mostly one-sided, agitating against American fossil-fuel production in a way lawmakers believe was aimed at benefiting Russia, the world’s largest oil producer. Read more here. These Provocative Images Show Russian Trolls Sought to Inflame Debate over Climate Change, Fracking and Dakota Pipeline The Washington Post, March 1, 2018 Russian trolls used Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to inflame U.S. political debate over energy policy and climate change, a finding that underscores how the Russian campaign of social media manipulation went beyond the 2016 presidential election, congressional investigators reported Thursday. The new report from the House Science, Space and Technology Committee includes previously unreleased social media posts that Russians created on such contentious political issues as the Dakota Access pipeline, government efforts to curb global warming and hydraulic fracturing, a gas mining technique often called “fracking.” Read more here. Trump's Steel Tariff Threatens His Goal Of Oil And Natural Gas Dominance Forbes, March 5, 2018 Starting this week, the Trump administration says, it will slap tariffs of 25% on imported steel and 10% on imported aluminum. This is a big problem for all Americans because it's a big problem for our booming oil and gas industry, which is now producing at record levels — 10.3 million b/d of crude oil and 78 Bcf/d of gas. In short, the tariff is opposite the administration's own stated goal of "energy dominance" and upgrading our critical infrastructure to the tune of $1.5 trillion. Run the numbers: For example, a company bringing $200,000 of steel made in Canada into the United States would have to pay an extra $50,000 to the government, obviously increasing costs. And it's thus even still a question of how the tariffs would help our own steel industry. It's no wonder that stocks plunged on the tariff announcement. Read more here. Trump’s Tariffs Threaten Domestic Natural Gas Industry and US Energy Goals The Hill, March 14, 2018 President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariff on imported steel will create an existential shock in material costs for the domestic natural gas industry, potentially causing multibillion-dollar projects to become uncompetitive and threatening the president’s own goal of U.S. energy dominance. Citing national security concerns, the president surprised policymakers and the business community by announcing on March 1 that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on imports of steel and a 10 percent tariff on imports of aluminum. One week later he signed proclamations implementing the policy, though temporarily exempting Canada and Mexico. Read more here. The Energy 202: This is how pipeline companies will seek a pass on Trump tariffs The Washington Post, March 12, 2018 Many businesses that so far have been big boosters of President Trump's agenda are scrambling to figure out how to avoid the crushing new tariffs he announced last week. In the wake of the announcement, a lobbying race is on for industries aiming to carve out exemptions to the 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum and 25 percent tariff on imported steel. Oil and natural gas pipeline companies are surprisingly optimistic about being excluded from the protectionist measures, despite the Trump insisting that unless pipeline steel “comes from the United States … we're not building one.” To read more, click here. High Energy Costs put Northeastern U.S. Economy at Risk The Hill, February 19, 2018 The winter of 2017-2018 has been one of the coldest in recent memory, especially in the Northeast. Not surprisingly, homeowners and businesses are literally screaming about heating and electric bills that have gone through the roof. Making matters worse, New England and New York are using imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is much more expensive than domestic gas, to satisfy nearly 20 percent of their heating and electric power needs. Some of this imported gas has come from Russia, despite current international sanctions. The great irony is that America has been the world’s largest producer of natural gas since 2009 and is slated to become a net exporter this year. We’re currently exporting 3.5 billion cubic of LNG per day, mainly from terminals in Louisiana, and this volume is projected to double by the end of 2018. So why does the Northeast import LNG to meet its energy needs when the country’s largest gas play, in the Marcellus shale formation, lies just next door in Pennsylvania and West Virginia? To read more, click here. Maine Needs New Natural Gas Capacity to Control our Energy Costs Bangor Daily News, March 13, 2018 A handful of extremists are holding up Maine’s economic and energy future. They are blocking New England’s access to affordable, clean burning natural gas, keeping us captive to high energy prices during the recent bone-chilling weather. Enbridge’s Atlantic Bridge, which would move more natural gas into our state, is being held up so Massachusetts can appease a small group of national and local activists — even though the federal government approved the project and deemed it necessary and having minimal impacts. To read more, click here. New York Loses Appeal to Block Millennium Natgas Pipeline Reuters, March 13, 2018 A federal appeals court on Monday denied New York State’s petition to review orders from federal energy regulators that authorized Millennium Pipeline Co to build a natural gas line to a power plant in Orange County, New York. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) determined the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) waived its authority to provide a water quality certification under the Clean Water Act within one year, as required by statue. EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2018—The Ups & Downs EIA, February 6, 2018 EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook provides modeled projections of domestic energy markets through 2050, and it includes cases with different assumptions regarding macroeconomic growth, world oil prices, technological progress, and energy policies. Strong domestic production coupled with relatively flat energy demand allows the United States to become a net energy exporter over the projection period in most cases. In the Reference case, natural gas consumption grows the most on an absolute basis, and nonhydroelectric renewables grow the most on a percentage basis. |