WASHINGTON, D.C. – "Federal policy is discouraging supply by shutting down pipelines, putting future production off limits, talking down the future of the petroleum business, and imposing expensive requirements on refineries, chief among them a burdensome Renewable Fuel Standard. The Administration is blaming others when it ought to take a sober look at its own energy policy."
Limiting California’s access to the exact types of crude oil its facilities need will only increase prices for the state’s consumers and travelers. Drivers are already dealing with gasoline prices in excess of $5 per gallon and the highest fuel taxes of the 50 states. Confining energy producers and consumers to a smaller pool of crude oil will make a very sensitive price environment that much worse.
Government overreach is an issue that strikes a bipartisan chord. For some, the May 19th ruling by a federal appeals court – which eliminates the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 2015 requirement that hobbyists register their drones – may serve as a badge of freedom from the perpetual gaze of “Big Brother.”
It’s been two and a half years since Congress granted the Department of Homeland Security’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program long-term authorization.
Recently, a coalition of Democratic Attorneys General (AGs) from 13 states sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt, notifying him of their intent to sue if...
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts there may be over five million total drones flying the national airspace by 2020. On one hand, this is great news: drones present significant...
Governor Gavin Newsom continues to blame fuel refiners for California’s highest-in-the-nation fuel prices. He couldn't be more wrong. The problem and solution to much of California’s fuel price challenge can be found in Sacramento policy. Take a look to better understand the role of policy in regional price differences, why it’s inaccurate to equate “margins” or “refinery cracks” with “profits,” and why windfall profit taxes are a known policy failure.
The return of fuel demand to pre-pandemic levels and the slower rebound of crude oil and fuel production has created concerns about whether supplies of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel will be sufficient to meet global demand. U.S. refineries are up and running at near maximum utilization. Other major refining countries, for a variety of reasons, have not kept pace bringing their facilities back into operation or resuming sales of fuel to the market. As a result, wholesale fuel prices have increased and so have refinery “crack spreads."
A Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) release—which basically involves making additional barrels of crude oil available for sale to the world market—is meant to increase global supply. Meeting today’s demand with more supply is a recipe for lower prices. The United States released millions of barrels from our SPR in the past several months, as did many other countries.