Oil and Gas

For oil, yes. About 44% of oil goes to making gasoline for cars, and 29% goes into making diesel (some of which goes into agricultural uses and machinery other than transportation). Another 7% of oil goes into jet fuel. Only 0.2% of natural gas is used for vehicles.

 

I tend to think that winds up being protectionism, if the tax is large enough, which is typically bad for the economy over the long term. Fuel exports can also help reduce our trade deficits and bring cash into the U.S. Higher prices at the pump are the best way to persuade people to change their behaviors and stop wasting fossil fuels.

We currently export a lot of bio-diesel to European countries. The EU has a tariff on U.S. biodiesel, under the belief that the U.S. is dumping biodiesel in Europe, and U.S. producers are heavily subsidized by the government. So there is a tax on the fuel, but the EU is collecting it. Not good policy by the U.S. gov't.

My question would be: should we have a variable gas tax, where the gas tax is lower when gasoline is above $5 per gallon, and increases as the price of gas goes below $4 per gallon? It would not be enough to fix the price of gas, but would reduce the swings in the price of gas. It would also give people a financial reason to conserve gas, which Americans are terrible at. Over the long-term, people would be more careful about buying gas guzzling vehicles they don't really need. America uses 20 million barrels of oil a day in the form of gasoline. We could probably reduce that to 15-16 MM bbl/day with the proper financial incentives and penalties.

There is no question that we need to be taxing gasoline more than we have been. The federal gas tax has not been increased in over 30 years--it's still $0.18/gal. Due to inflation and slightly improved gas mileage, the cost to maintain the highways has increased to close to $0.40/gal. If not a variable tax, I would support a gradual fixed gas tax increase of $0.02/gal per quarter ($0.08/yr) until we collect that $0.40/gal to pay for the highways. And even that may not be enough to change behavior. Compensate the working poor for the tax increase by raising the minimum wage by $0.25/hr every year.

 

There’s no maybe about it. Export controls = protectionism. We absolutely should NOT be subsidizing the use of fossil fuels, and export control is effectively a subsidy on consumption. I’ve had the same take as you for 20 years, that the gas tax should have been hiked to catch up to inflation (after decades of stagnation), fracking was the perfect opportunity to get this done. Obama had the right idea trying to implement higher MPG standards, but even that “better than nothing” policy totally failed as the low cost of gas still drove consumer behavior into larger and less efficient vehicles (observationally the “exceptions” for large trucks and SUV’s must have been so vague as to render the actual MPG standards meaningless). Now people driving these retarded inefficient vehicles are mad about how much it costs to run them, even though they need only look in the mirror to see why we are in this situation. You can’t make this stuff up.

Trumpistas have no idea what free market capitalism is, so it’s not surprising the same ones who called for tariffs want to see us horde our supply of oil & gas vs. letting the markets operate. Higher prices is the only thing that changes behavior. If anyone thinks subsidized lower prices or export control is good policy… I hear Venezuela is lovely this time of year.

 

There already is a "tax" on exporting oil: it is the shipping/distribution cost, which is probably minor. If we want to make sure that exported oil/gasoline is taxed, we could tax oil at the producer, refiner, or importer, and not at the gas pumps. We would be taxing all oil products that way (heating oil, asphalt, jet fuel, etc.) and not just gasoline, however.

 

Of the 35 million acres of land now leased from the government, only about 40% are actively producing. Not sure how more leases will help.

 

Some may find this disussion worth watching or listening to. An all inclusive comprehensive honest discussion concerning natural gas, oil, coal, nuclear energy and renewables. There is so much to unpack in this discussion that I had to listen to it twice. Bottom line energy security is a must not just for the comfort of humans but also for industrialization and survival. Europe is currently screwed for years to come due to bad decisions by policy makers. We have to get this right or we will be next.

Michael Shellenberger

Shellenberger is a leading investigative journalist who has broken major stories on crime and drug policy; homelessness; Amazon deforestation; rising climate resilience; growing eco-anxiety; the U.S. government’s role in the fracking revolution; and climate change and California’s fires. And he testifies and advises governments around the world including in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.​

Europe's embrace of renewable energy has made it heavily reliant on Russian gas and oil to fill gaps in the power supply. As Russian President Vladimir Putin's flailing invasion of Ukraine continues, and in the wake of the Nord Stream pipeline ruptures as Europeans approach winter, it's an especially urgent issue. Amid Europe's largest war since World War II, what is happening to the lofty goals of nations around the world to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels?

Watch live as Reason's Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller discuss the status of global green energy Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern time with Michael Shellenberger, author of Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All. ​

 

Trump successfully negotiated LESS OPEC production. Not more.

 

Obviously, circumstances were different when Trump did that--Russia had not yet invaded Ukraine and stopped the flow of oil and gas to Europe.

 

If oil companies are not interested then open up exploration. If the oil companies are not interested exploration then nothing is lost and the talking point proves factual.

 

As I stated earlier release the restriction then I'll listen to the argument.

 

what is it with these over hour+ long videos of guys from their basement?!

 

While you may not be interested in them others might. Sound bytes and talking points are not enough to get a picture and scope of the issues we face. You can simply skip over the post instead of wasting the time spent to complain about something you have no interest in.

 

The restrictions placed on oil and gas leasing of federal lands and off shore waters. If oil companies are not going to take advantage of that why have them. Remove the talking point and be done with it.