With thanks to the excellent work by David Blackmon, we now know what the letter from Jennifer Granholm to the largest refiners in the US said.
We encourage industry to take the necessary steps to increase inventories in regions that are disproportionately low and ultimately at heightened risk for supply disruptions in the event of a significant hurricane-related outage, multi-storm event or other unanticipated non-weather event that disrupts production or distribution at this vulnerable time of capacity constraints and volatile markets. Given the historic level of U.S. refined product exports, I again urge you to focus in the near term on building inventories in the United States, rather than selling down current stocks and further increasing exports.
This shift in focus would help protect consumers who are vulnerable to disruptions. It would allow the industry to demonstrate it can deliver on the obligation to meet its customers’ needs, while aiding in our broader effort to respond to Vladimir Putin’s unprecedented and unlawful assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty, which has seriously disrupted energy markets. It is our hope that companies will proactively address this need. If that is not the case, the Administration will need to consider additional Federal requirements or other emergency measures.
Two takeaways. First- the administration has their head so far up their a$$ they don’t understand that the objective of removing fossil fuels increases prices and that to reduce the use of fossil fuels prices must go substantially higher. It will crush the poor. As we have been saying for years. There is no energy transition. There are simply trade offs. And Europe will be the first to fall. This winter. Norway is discussing rationing electricity exports. Germany is absolutely F’d. And costs in the UK are about to be recapped up 80%., and that’s just for residences. If you were a business, uncapped, how long do you keep your doors open (I.e. with staff…)? How would you fare if your electricity bill was 10x higher this winter and your mortgage reset to 6.5%?
And second, in the words of my friend William Lacey, the hunger games have started. Once exports of critical supplies cease from the U.S. to Europe, we will stop getting grains and goods and rare earth minerals. When goods don’t cross bordersX soldiers will. That’s why we were in Iraq. It’s why Russia is in Ukraine. And why Germany is absolutely dead.
Oh… did I mention food? 70% of the fertilizer plants in Europe are offline. Ever wonder how we feed 7.8 billion people? No is the time in the video game it plays the sad “whah whah whah…” song.
We lose.
This is so much like the train wreck you know is coming and don't want to watch, but you can't help yourself.