“The environmentalists have been emboldened by their ‘win’ with the passage of the IRA. Never satisfied, their petition is one of the first attempts to expand it.”

It never ends…. In the wake of the 725-page “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA), consumer choice for energy could be intentionally restricted to electricity by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Or at least that seems to be the plan. According to a petition submitted by environmentalists, EPA should regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions resulting from using natural gas in homes and businesses.

The eco-lobby has been emboldened by their “win” with the passage of the IRA. Never satisfied, their petition is one of the first attempts to expand it.

Background

On Tuesday, August 23, 2022,  The Hill published an article by  staffer  Rachel Frazin stating “26 health, environmental and consumer protection organizations” petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency for the ban in residences and commercial buildings, citing health and climate impacts.…

“It seems that the only people who could claim a $14,000 [home electrification] rebate have well above average income.  If so, like $7,500 electric vehicles (EV’s) rebates, this is an incentive that primarily will benefit the already well-to-do; except nearly twice as much as EV’s.”

“Without gas utilities to serve heating demand, electric utilities will become winter peaking, requiring massive investments of generating capacity and/or battery storage.”  

Searchable text of Inflation Reduction Act is here.

The American public has been sold out in energy and climate just when the opposite seemed to be at hand. This bill is about bigger government, more spending, greater deficits, and more monetary inflation (federal counterfeiting) to make it all work (see Concerned Economists letter).

Hidden in the Bill are innumerable special-interest government interventions, one of which is very anti-consumer that no one is talking about.…

I am writing a new book, Energy Crisis and Leviathan, that summarizes the history of government intervention with energy during wartime and other energy emergencies. To better understand these crises, I review the intervening periods of relative normalcy.

My effort is not a treatise but an overview that relies on key political economy terms to best understand the unhampered market process versus interventionism. The terms below will be referred to in future posts here at MasterResource given the current energy emergencies and habit of government to expand rather than contract.

This is a working draft. The reader is invited to suggest, correct, or present new terms to this list of 21.

Border adjustments: Nation-to-nation tariffs to prevent some jurisdictions from disadvantaging others in the global quest to price or ration carbon dioxide.…

“I’m proud to report that the American Gas Association (AGA), the American Public Gas Association (APGA), Spire Inc. (who really led the effort), and a gas appliance manufacturer, Thermo Products LLC (a subsidiary of Burnham holdings), rose to the occasion with a filing that put DOE on notice that the gas industry isn’t giving up.”

“Market conservation, in short, is wholly different from command-and-control government conservationism.”

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is further escalating its electrification strategies using regulatory appliance efficiency standards. But the good news is that resistance continues and is even on the upswing with the global failure of ‘Net Zero’ in light of recent developments.

The entire debate is colored by DOE/EERE ignoring the intent of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) to balance varied consumer interests and energy choices, rather than providing the agency with carte blanche permission to squeeze out every possible BTU without regard to consumer cost, convenience, and fuel preferences.…