Week Recap: States Sue EPA, Biden Raises Tariffs, Trump Targets Wind

President Joe Biden is raising the price of clean energy components imported from China to accelerate America’s building spree of solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles. But it jeopardizes the United States’ goal of slashing […]

Highlights of the Podcast

00:00 – Intro

00:49 – 25 States Sue EPA Over Unachievable Power Plant Regulations

03:03 – US House passes Rep. John Curtis’ bill to remove ‘red tape’ around nuclear power

04:39 – USA EIA Lowers Brent Oil Price Forecasts

09:44 – US shale companies accused of collusion over oil price

14:56 – Trump Vows Day One Executive Order Targeting Offshore Wind

17:25 – Biden ratchets up tariffs on Chinese EVs, solar, batteries

19:01 – How tariffs threaten Biden’s climate goals

20:46 – Outro

Follow Stuart On LinkedIn and Twitter

Follow Michael On LinkedIn and Twitter

ENB Top News

Energy Dashboard

ENB Podcast

ENB Substack

– Get in Contact With The Show –

Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

Stuart Turley: [00:00:15] Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Energy News Beat daily stand up. Today is actually the weekend. I hope everybody is out there. Today is May 18th. I hope you had an absolutely fantastic week. Michael and I have had so much fun. We are working on deals. We are interviewing folks and we are busy, so I hope you like what the staff has got put together for us. Subscribe like share and we look forward to speaking to you soon. Have a great day. Talk to you soon. Bye. [00:00:49][34.1]

Stuart Turley: [00:00:49] Let’s get to running around to our favorite Biden. Oh my goodness. 25 states sue EPA over unachievable power plant regulations. What? Besides a few billion between friends? Michael, what’s one of our other greatest lines? [00:01:05][15.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:01:06] Sanctions don’t work. [00:01:07][0.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:01:09] Legislation through regulatory action. I mean, you gotta love the EPA. Continues to not fully understand the direction from the Supreme Court. Unelected bureaucrats continue their pursuit to legislate rather than rely on the elected members of Congress for their guidance. West Virginia Attorney General Monty said, I love it. Here’s another quote. The Green New Deal agenda the Biden administration didn’t use to focus on the people is setting the plants to fail and therefore shut, or, altering the nation’s already stretched grid the state Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. Wow, any of those states go move into right away? [00:02:17][68.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:02:18] Yeah, that is exactly I’m surprised Lord or Florida is on that list. I was going to say I think we’re missing one, but no, Florida is definitely on that list. This is a list of states you definitely want to move through. You also have to remember West Virginia has a history of this type of success in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. They successfully fought EPA rules in 2022. As the court said, the EPA should not use its regulatory authority to create broad new regulations with the Clean Air Act. So now they’re taking a step further and trying to move it into the power plants. We love it. I mean, it’s oh, yeah, like you said, legislation through regulation is is one of the most, you know, is a second order effect of having a large bureaucratic system that is absolutely Unbelieve house passes. [00:03:04][45.4]

Stuart Turley: [00:03:05] Representative John Curtis bill to remove red tape around nuclear power. Michael, I love me some nuclear. And I the only way that we’re going to get through low cost energy is the elimination of regulatory legislation through regulation. And Curtis, a Republican and founder of the Conservative Climate Caucus, has been a proponent of nuclear power. Well, the cost and red tape associated with our permitting processes are providing to be duplicative and ineffective, Curtis said Thursday. We need an innovation in nuclear space to ensure affordable, reliable and clean energy, and Congress must do the same. I am excited about this. In fact, I want to let you know that Congressman, Congresswoman Spratt, and I are, looking to interview on Wednesday, 1030 eastern, and I’m pretty excited about that. She is, Congresswoman, she’s actually, Ukrainian born, and has got a lot of great things to say. I want to reach out to him and get him on the podcast as well, too. [00:04:17][72.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:04:18] Are you guys live from the border? [00:04:18][0.8]

Stuart Turley: [00:04:19] Live from the border? No, we’re actually going to go live on LinkedIn. [00:04:22][3.0]

Michael Tanner: [00:04:23] But I’m just I’m just giving you a hard time. But no, I mean, this has come up multiple, multiple times. If you really wanted to transition and you really want to find something to replace coal as a baseload energy power nuclear’s the only way to go. [00:04:36][12.6]

Stuart Turley: [00:04:36] You really gotta love me some nuclear. Maybe the EIA, the, they lowered their Brant oil price forecast. Michael. And, I found this is because it’s their short term, energy outlook is what they normally produce it out in is quote however really daily crude spot oil prices have since fallen and the Brant spot price at 84 barrels per day. May 2nd said in the East, you know, geopolitical tensions are also supported by crude oil prices amid, conflict between Iran and. That is real, Michael. Where do you think oil prices are going? [00:05:18][42.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:05:19] Well, I mean, if I knew that stu, we’d be we’d be. I wouldn’t be sharing that here and we’d be placing a lot more bets on the market. So the reality answer is, I don’t know. It’s clear there’s a floor between, as I mentioned on yesterday’s show, 70 to 75 and 85 to 90. There’s that bandwidth, that oil trade. The U.S. economy can’t support oil over $90, at least in my standpoint. From a Brant standpoint, that would be oil over 100. As much as we all love in the oil and gas business. Talk about $100 oil. The United States economy couldn’t support that, and it would be actually devastating to lower income, families. And overall inflation would be go rampant because a lot of the inputs that go into the inflation calculation are backed up by energy. So with that, I don’t believe we’re going to see oil, you know, much higher than 8590 if I had to guess. We’re going to continue to trend downward. between that 75 and $85 bandwidth. We’ve seen oil prices, slightly up today hovering around that $80 mark. I think what they mentioned specifically in this report, talking about how geopolitical tensions have sort of amped up relative to where I mean, that if, if, if the basis for oil prices being 85 to $90 specifically here at home have to do with geopolitical tensions, we’re not always going to have geopolitical tensions. And if we do, that’s not good. The fact and if and if you’re if you’re if you’re sitting there praying for war so that oil prices are higher, Lindsey Graham’s got a seat at the dinner table. You can go hang out with him later. [00:06:55][95.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:06:55] We know that. And and he’s a loser. Did it. Well, did I just say that I was. [00:07:00][4.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:07:01] He’s listening in on this conversation news. [00:07:03][1.9]

Stuart Turley: [00:07:03] He’s always welcome on the podcast because I have a few questions for him. The the one thing though, Michael, as we sit here and we take a look at the long term, if President Trump is elected and our, one of our good buddies, over there at that crude truth Pecos Operating and and, Trevino family resources, he said if Republican gets in, there doesn’t have to be Trump. If a Republican gets in, oil prices go down. So if everybody wants lower prices at the pump, go vote for public. [00:07:40][36.6]

Michael Tanner: [00:07:40] Yeah, I think you that’s a really good call out in the fact of, you know, this upcoming election is going to be interesting. Now, the Biden administration is going to do whatever they can to support lower oil prices, whether that’s letting out of the it’s. [00:07:55][14.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:07:55] Temporary and it does not work. [00:07:57][2.1]

Michael Tanner: [00:07:58] Well if there’s, you know, of course, you asked me where I think oil prices are going. So I’m giving you a reasoning on where I think they might go. I think if you’re talking about a bandwidth of 75 to 85, where 70 to 90, let’s just expand it at 70 and 90 outside of, you know, a tactical nuclear weapon being launched in the Middle East, you know, or some crazy supply or, you know, bird flu, all of a sudden, I heard that’s going crazy. Now, we might all of a sudden, bird stew shaking his head for our podcast lizard. But if bird flu becomes the next crazy event, well, then we might see prices dive below. But if I had to bet if $80 plus or minus is the the sort of the line if you’re a gambler, I’m going to take the under. If only because I feel like as we move into election season, it’s going to be pertinent for the current administration to make sure prices are slow enough. And, you know, quite frankly, as somebody who drives, I don’t mind lower gas prices. [00:08:52][53.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:08:53] I don’t either. And and quite honestly, I’m going to say this out loud, I think the EIA if. Yeah, we don’t want H.R., jumping in on it, let’s all let’s hold this thought. I, I personally think that the EIA will fudge the numbers in order to get the numbers down, for the Biden administration, because the job numbers have done they have done that on the job number. Oh, we know they’ve done it as well. So I think you’re going to see the low end of this. And it’s because by hook or by crook, it’s going to be the low in. [00:09:26][33.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:09:27] Gas you stew with. Conspiracy theory. Wouldn’t have, wouldn’t have. Didn’t see that one coming. [00:09:32][4.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:09:32] It. Michael, you know what the difference between a conspiracy theory and a fact is? [00:09:35][3.3]

Michael Tanner: [00:09:36] Two weeks. [00:09:36][0.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:09:38] Less than one week now because, we’re down to one week. [00:09:42][4.7]

Michael Tanner: [00:09:43] One week? Great U.S. shale companies accused of collusion over oil price. And. No, no, I don’t make a big deal about this. But this is, you know, gas industry. Yeah, the oil and gas industry is getting pounded from all sense. Fresh off of the FTC blocking Scott Sheffield from joining the ExxonMobil board from the Exxon pioneer merger, a new barrage of lawsuits alleging that some of the largest companies in the sector. And I’m reading now straight from the article, alleging some of the largest companies in the. Colluded to curb and output and raise prices after similar claims were made by U.S. antitrust regulators. Okay, this is absolutely hilarious, Stu. Okay. Talk about having your cake and eating it, too. The lawsuit takes aim at the industry’s model of capital discipline, in which producers have pivoted from rapidly building up production in response to high prices in recent years in favor of funneling cash back to investors. Let me get this straight. Let me just get this straight. So when we were pumping up production as fast as possible, people were jumping down the U.S. industry’s throats because they were responsible for climate change. And now, as they’ve pulled back on production, shift their focus into one shareholder returns. But also, everyone’s out there talking about, you know, net zero, 2050, net zero, 2040. All that jazz. Now all of a sudden they’re in trouble because they haven’t rapidly increased production. It’s absolutely unbelievable Stu. They’re attempting to have their cake and eat it too. Plaintiffs in New Mexico allege the group’s collective failure to open the taps as crude prices soared in wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was a departure from the historical practice and rational IT independent self interest. Well, wait a second, wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. Guys. The goal of a business is to make money. Why were invest? Why were oil companies drilling like crazy and raising production? Any ideas? And this is a rhetorical question because we know the answer because that’s what investors wanted. And investors were pouring money to make that happen. Or when the investors shifted and say, well, we actually realized that all of this production that you made didn’t actually benefit the shareholders, which is a business. Their explicit goal is to make money for its investors. Hold on, hold on. Just let me finish this. Now all of a sudden, when they shift, when and when they continue to follow what investors say, but investors have changed their mind and say, we actually want a little bit of ESG. We want a little bit of, stock buybacks. It’s now the oil companies fall because they’re in cahoots with OPEC. I don’t understand. [00:12:28][164.9]

Stuart Turley: [00:12:29] No, no, let me ask something. Isn’t there is this thing called e is g. Environmental social and governance. And governance is about being, responsible to your stakeholders. You mean the oil and gas companies? We’re actually following the credence of ESG. [00:12:50][21.4]

Michael Tanner: [00:12:52] I mean, one of the companies named in this lawsuit is Chesapeake Energy. But I don’t have to remind you the fact that they went bankrupt. So, I mean, what what do they want? What is this? What’s this guy’s name? Thomas Burt, a partner at Wolfe Howden in. What a name. Okay, quote. Not the first time people in the oil and gas business made it. Made a mess. That will take a lot to clean up. Damages are significant. Yeah. To shareholders. Trust me. Class is likely to encompass roughly four years of gasoline sales to two thirds of American consumers. Does he have any idea what he’s talking about? Right. [00:13:30][38.0]

Stuart Turley: [00:13:31] No. [00:13:31][0.0]

Michael Tanner: [00:13:33] It’s it’s it’s pretty. It’s it’s pretty crazy. You know, of course, you know. [00:13:37][4.6]

Stuart Turley: [00:13:38] When you get. [00:13:39][0.2]

Michael Tanner: [00:13:39] The FTC’s allegation of collusive behavior between Exxon and Pioneer, it didn’t have anything to do with it. So I I’m just shocked. I’m just shocked, the lack and the incompetence that some of these people show and a lot of this stuff is just hand wave. It’s just hand wave. [00:13:57][17.5]

Stuart Turley: [00:13:58] It’s despicable. It’s what it is. I mean, just flat out, it’s like Sheffield is gonna go call up OPEC and go, hey, let’s collude on some prices. You gotta be kidding me. [00:14:11][12.9]

Michael Tanner: [00:14:12] Well, the problem is it, at the end of the day, a business is designed to make money. And if you have an issue with that, then you have an issue with capitalism. And your issue. Should it be with oil and gas? It should be the overall framework of the United States economy. You can go have that battle. I don’t care. Go argue in front of the Supreme Court that capitalism is bad enough. I don’t care, we won’t cover it on energy news because I can, you know. But but when you cherry pick the oil and gas business. And why do you do this? Well, because there’s a lot of money in it. So it it it it. Hey, it just cracks me up. They don’t have their cake. They want. They wanna eat it too. They want it delivered to their house. They want it with little extra frosting on top. And they want to be spoon fed. It’s at some point you’ve got to do a little bit of work yourself. [00:14:55][43.3]

Stuart Turley: [00:14:56] Trump vows day one executive order targeting offshore wind. There’s a couple a really big hidden nuggets in this story. We are going to make sure this is a quote. We are going to make sure that that ends on day one. I’m going to write it out and executive. The order, said Trump on his trip to Wildwood, new Jersey, on Saturday. He has, he wasn’t specific that president could, impact the executive order with a fresh study, the offshore wind farm, and the way, the whales went crazy when they heard this. Do you know that the right whales are approaching endangered species? But yet the, developers have gone out and they have applied for more tags, knowing that they’re going to kill more than the actual species has left alive. They. Yeah, they are endangered. Where is the outcry? Good for President Trump on, saying that he is going to stop offshore wind farms. Hey, if it can be done without harming the whales, let’s talk about it. Let’s make it fiscally responsible. Let’s talk about it. But I’ll tell you what it is not fiscally responsible. And the birds and the eagles in the bench, in the wind. I am not a wind farm kind of fan. Good for President Trump, but I want a question here. What is going to be the backlash? Is this going to be now a calling card for the Democrat Party to say he is anti renewable energy and that this is going to be a major, issue, that he’s going to do this from day one? I agree with it. But B is is going to be a calling card for the Democrat Party saying, hey, we’re going to try to do this. So it’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out. It’s very important. And if you are an environmentalist, you need to really pay attention and learn the facts on offshore wind. I’m all about getting the lowest kilowatt per hour to everyone on the planet and not killing the eagles. Birds, whales. Biden ratchets up tariffs on Chinese EV solar and batteries. The Biden administration moved on Tuesday to block China’s access to the American market for clean energy technology, doubling duties on solar cells and effectively quadrupling the price of electric vehicles from China. There’s more to this story, and it really is despicable. Duties will triple this year on EV batteries and other battery parts to 25%. The same 25% rate will be imposed on some steel and aluminum products. 25% duty will go into force on critical minerals cobalt, manganese and zinc or the same tariff rate. And graphite will be permanent magnets in 2026. So these new trade rules will tighten the ongoing tensions between nurturing the country’s young, clean energy and deploying clean energy. This is absolutely a, an example of the Biden administration not understanding how businesses operate in, China is using the same playbook it has before to power its own growth at the expense of others by continuing to invest despite excess Chinese capacity and flooding the global markets. All it’s going to do is hurt that consumer. [00:19:00][244.0]

Stuart Turley: [00:19:01] How tariffs threaten Biden’s climate goals, the climate goals and the climate crisis. I think there’s more to this story than you need to make sure you’re paying attention to this, quote unquote, from David Rapson, an economist at the University of California. Quote, this is probably not good climate policy. But it certainly will slow the adoption of clean energy technologies in the short term and will likely slow them in the long term as well. You know. Biden is quadrupling the tax on the Chinese electric vehicles to 100%. This is actually very dumb on all aspects of this because he’s also taxing the batteries, the components, the critical minerals and everything else. If they’re trying to do grid expansions and energy security, they’re not considering into this. They need to be more specific and targeted, lower the costs so that Tesla, so that any of the other U.S. manufacturers can get the tax credits, because right now, their regulatory actions going from, you don’t get the tax credit, you get the tax credit, you get the tax credit, you don’t get the tax credit. No wonder the EV manufacturers are failing in the U.S. is because 100% because of the energy policies of the Biden administration. So between these two stories, it’s pretty much an eyeful for you there. [00:19:01][0.0][1097.0]