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🛢️ Conflicts of Interest? In the Dept. of Energy?

Nah...really? Billions going down the drain...

Good morning, here's what the Oilman has for you today:

DoE’s Green Loan Rush Unravels

The Department of Energy has been in a rush to lend as much as it can to green projects.

Its own regulator this month, however, called for a halt to these.

There could be conflicts of interest, the inspector general warned.

Ya don’t say…?

More gold bars off the Titanic

Remember that EPA official who said they were funding green NGOs in anticipation of Trump’s presidency?

He called it “throwing gold bars off the Titanic.”

The DoE has also been throwing off gold bars off the Titanic.

Last month, its Loan Programs Office boosted its fire power from $57 billion to $246 billion.

All for green projects.

These guys must be really feeling the GOP administration breathing down their necks.

But as the LPO got more money to throw at wind and solar, its regulator spoke up.

In an interim report, Teri Donaldson suggested some DoE contractors may be playing both fields.

They are supposed to be working for the DoE but some could be also working for loan beneficiaries.

The head of the LPO said Donaldson had not uncovered any evidence of wrongdoing.

But it’s hard to not wonder why the sudden surge in available money.

It must be on fears that Trump could shut down the office.

After all, he threatened to do just that back in 2016.

Betting billions on lame horses

The LPO provides projects with low-interest loans.

Per inspector general Donaldson, many of these projects failed to secure funding elsewhere.

In other words, the government is subsidizing project that banks rejected as too high-risk.

Hooray for communism!

Right now, it sounds more like throwing money to green businesses just because there is money.

Not because those businesses have a good energy idea.

Luckily, time is running out on the money-throwing.

Life of an Oilman has covered some big personalities:

Aubrey McClendon came from oilfield royalty — his great uncle was the co-founder of Kerr-McGee and an Oklahoma Governor.

In the latest Life of an Oilman, Adam Oxsen covers Aubrey’s rise from local-Oklahoma landman to a global, energy icon.

Go listen to Life of an Oilman.

European Power Industry Calls for Lower Energy Taxes

The EU’s power utilities have called on Brussels to lower energy taxes.

It’s the latest in a growing number of warning signs about the bloc’s energy security.

Can’t have electrification with sky-high prices

This latest warning came from the head of the power utility association in the EU.

Leonhard Birnbaum, CEO of Germany utility E.ON, said Brussels had to lower taxes.

Because current electricity prices were incompatible with electrification plans.

That’s putting it very mildly.

The drive to electrify everything was bound to make electricity more expensive anyway.

But that drive features high-cost sources such as wind and solar.

Their additional costs get passed on to the consumers in the form of taxes.

So, you get even more expensive electricity.

“We appreciate that states always need more money,” Birnbaum told Reuters.

That’s some good sense of humor right there.

But, he continued, you can’t have excessive taxes on electricity.

Well, obviously you can, but it’s not really good for the industry you want to electrify.

In case you’re wondering why European businesses are relocating…

European industrial users pay electricity bills that are 2-3 times higher than what we pay here.

Taxes make up an average 23% of these bills in the EU.

So, in case anyone was wondering why so many European companies want to move…

That’s why.

Problem is, governments have no other source of money.

It’s either industry or households.

And both are made up of voters.

Must be tough to be in European government these days.

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