Declaring a National Energy Emergency

> (a) The term “energy” or “energy resources” means crude oil, natural gas, lease condensates, natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products, uranium, coal, biofuels, geothermal heat, the kinetic movement of flowing water, and critical minerals, as defined by 30 U.S.C. 1606 (a)(3).

They hide the fun stuff at the bottom. Solar and wind don't count!

Interesting how the definition of "energy" is crafted to include just about everything except solar and wind.

Wouldn't want to accidentally make it easier to greenlight a renewable energy project. Might risk saving the environment by mistake.

I was curious what's the production emergency. In practice https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/ US has been producing ~10% more energy than it was using. They had more production for years now.

Meanwhile the winter issues came from companies not maintaining their equipment, which was advised years ago to do, with a warning about power outages.

So "emergency".

Solar keeps getting cheaper, and is growing exponentially. Here’s the growth in Texas.

https://images.app.goo.gl/e5X6ZCyznCZWbYEV7

As a warning to US citizens: this is similar to how state energy production and regulation was captured in my country, leading to massive corruption. A crisis was whipped up, and emergency powers were given to key individuals in the energy supply chain. These emergency powers were used to enrich certain companies and politicians, and exacerbate the energy shortage to perpetuate the need for emergency powers. We are still recovering from this, near a decade after the scandal was uncovered. Watch how this declaration of emergency will be used to enrich certain parties in the US, and possibly abroad (despite the emphasis on domestic energy).

Paraphrasing The Incredibles: when everything is an emergency, nothing is.

coincidentally, just read this: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Blackouts-Are-Bec...

i'm not an expert of energy, need some time to validate this

> The harsh reality is that natural gas plants, even relatively modern ones, are proving to have the worst failure rate when faced with extreme weather compared with other generation methods. During the massive Arctic Blast, gas units accounted for 63% of the failures while representing just 44% of the total installed capacity.

> But, as is usually the case, the biggest challenge remains funding: a Wood Mackenzie analysis has estimated it would cost a staggering *$4.5 trillion* for the U.S. to fully decarbonize, including constructing and operating new generation facilities

Ah, this emergency is already a month old. Does anyone know if there have been any concrete outcomes yet?

Maybe repealing the Jones Act to allow shipment of cheaper domestic LNG to New England would be helpful

Somebody other than Trump has been working on this document for a very long time before he was even re-elected.

I would estimate it's whoever can expect to gain the most financially from this type action.

Protected Native American Lands, Alaska and wildlife preserves all in danger because "muh national security" and "drill, baby, drill." Excellent. :(