Oil & gas industry seeks energy dependence, ignores peak oil, and opposes climate protection plans

The oil and gas industry's energy policy: Drill, baby, drill! Import, baby, import!:

+ Increase, not decrease energy production by promoting all sources. [In other words, peak oil doesn't exist.]
+ Encourage energy efficiency as a core American principle.
+ Encourage investment in advanced technologies and long-term energy initiatives.
+ Allow market forces to allocate products and adjust to changing conditions.
+ Refrain from new taxes that make it more expensive to develop our domestic supplies.
+ Support the need to participate actively in global energy markets rather than isolate the U.S. [In other words, become more dependent on foreign sources.]

From print ad of the oil and gas industry:

Congress will soon consider massive new taxes and fees – which could easily exceed $400 billion – on America’s oil and natural gas industry, yet this level could produce devastating effects on our economy, all when America can least afford it.

These unprecedented taxes and fees would reduce investment in new energy supplies at a time when nearly two-thirds of Americans support developing our domestic oil and natural gas resources. That would mean less energy, and it would cost thousands of American jobs, actually reduce local, state and federal revenue, and further erode our energy security.

Learn more and tell Congress to oppose these proposals to impose $400 billion in tax hikes on America’s oil and natural gas companies. By using SocialCapital, you can voice your opinions to public officials and members of Congress about key energy issues via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more.

AT&T will buy 8,000 CNG-powered vehicles

From a news release issued by AT&T:

Through an initiative that highlights the growing demand for cleaner domestic vehicles, AT&T today announced plans to invest up to $565 million as part of a long-term strategy to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles over the next 10 years. AT&T expects to spend an estimated $350 million to purchase about 8,000 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles and approximately $215 million to begin replacing its passenger cars with alternative-fuel models.

AT&T's investment represents the largest U.S. corporate commitment to CNG vehicles to date. The new deployments will bring AT&T's alternative-fuel fleet to more than 15,000 vehicles by 2019.

"AT&T and other U.S. corporations have a unique opportunity to partner with the new administration as it works to lead the country out of this economic downturn," said Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T Inc. "While there are no easy solutions to the challenges facing our nation, this investment is a first step on our part to help boost other industries while at the same time encouraging wider use and production of efficient vehicles and domestic fuel alternatives."

The Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Ann Arbor, Mich., estimates that the new vehicles will save 49 million gallons of gasoline and reduce carbon emissions by 211,000 metric tons over the 10-year deployment period. That is equivalent to removing the emissions from more than 38,600 traditional passenger vehicles for a year.

Over the next five years, AT&T will replace about 8,000 gasoline-powered service vehicles with vehicles powered by domestically available CNG. CNG vehicles are expected to emit approximately 25 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than those traditionally powered by gasoline.

We Energies customers may save on natural gas, utility says

From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

We Energies' 1 million natural-gas customers might see savings on their home heating costs this winter after all.

A spokesman said Tuesday that the utility is revising its winter season forecast. Homeowners now can expect bills to be the same as or as much as 3% lower than last winter.

During the six-month heating season that runs through April, that would mean savings of up to $28 for the typical household. The Milwaukee utility was forecasting earlier that winter heating costs would rise by $35 to $45 for the typical household.

But natural gas prices have continued to fall, spokesman Brian Manthey said.

"We have a long way to go in this winter," he said, adding that how cold the winter is will be the biggest factor in determining what customers' heating costs will be.

The utility's forecast assumes that Wisconsin has normal temperatures this season. November was slightly colder than normal. If Wisconsin sees a repeat of last winter - when temperatures were 10% colder than normal - heating costs would rise slightly, Manthey said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said a deeper recession will keep a lid on energy prices in 2009 and forecast that winter heating costs would drop in the Midwest.

The agency's monthly energy outlook said Tuesday that crude oil prices are projected to average $51 a barrel next year, down from $100 this year.

"The increasing likelihood of a prolonged global economic downturn continues to dominate market perceptions, putting downward pressure on oil prices," the report said.

For the first time in 30 years, world demand for oil is expected to fall for two straight years, this year and again in 2009, the agency said.

Run cars on green electricity, not natural gas

From an analysis of natural gas for vehicle fuel by Jonathan G. Dorn posted on Earth Island Institute:

On economics, driving with electricity is far cheaper than driving with gasoline or natural gas. The average new U.S. car can travel roughly 30 miles on a gallon of gasoline, which cost $3.91 in July 2008 (the latest date for which comparable price data for natural gas is available). Traveling the same distance with natural gas cost around $2.51, while with electricity, using the existing electrical generation mix, it cost around 73¢. . . .

Just like oil, natural gas is a finite, nonrenewable resource. This means that switching to a fleet of NGVs would be at best a short-term fix. As natural gas becomes more difficult to obtain and more costly, a fleet of NGVs and the 20,000 or so natural gas refueling stations that would be required to support them would simply be abandoned. . . .

Choosing natural gas to power our vehicles would send the United States down the same expensive and inefficient path that created our addiction to foreign oil and our dependence on a resource that will ultimately run out. Choosing green electricity can take us in a new direction—one that leads to improved energy security and a stabilizing climate.

Natural gas customers could face sticker shock

From an article by Richard Ryman in the Green Bay Press-Gazette:

Consumers could be in for a shock this winter if natural gas prices remain high through the summer.

"If it stays the way it is, people are going to be a little bit shocked by their heating bills," said Kerry Spees, spokesman for Wisconsin Public Service Corp. in Green Bay.

Natural gas prices traditionally are lower in the summer, and utilities take the opportunity to store it at those lower rates for winter use. This summer, rates have not fallen.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, wellhead prices for natural gas climbed from $6.37 per thousand in November 2007 to $8.94 in April, the latest month for which figures are available. Natural gas was trading at around $13 on the Nymex futures market Monday.

Spees said utilities have been waiting for prices to fall to begin summer storage. If they all begin buying at the same time, it will keep demand, and prices, higher.

He said a series of fortuitous events this summer could mitigate higher prices later, including mild temperatures nationwide and no hurricanes that affect offshore production.

"That's a lot of ifs," he said.

Spees said this would be a good time for consumers to make home improvements to reduce winter costs, such as adding insulation and improving caulking and weather stripping.

Also, he said, conserving energy in the summer will help because it will reduce the need to use natural gas-fired peaking plants to generate electricity. Peaking plants often are required when air-conditioning use is high.