Energy Blog

Abundant U.S. energy, courtesy of hydraulic fracturing tapping shale oil and natural gas deposits as well as other sources, is attracting manufacturers from Europe where energy prices are significantly higher. The Washington Post reports:

[I]n Ludwigshafen [Germany], many people view the United States as the land of the future. Since 2009, BASF has channeled more than $5.7 billion into new investments in North America, including a formic acid plant under construction in Louisiana, where the company will manufacture a chemical used to de-ice runways, tan leather and preserve animal feed.

U.S. energy abundance isn’t only drawing business from across the Atlantic. A Toronto Globe and Mail story notes that Canada’s Methanex will move a methanol plant from Chile to Louisiana and could move a second one to be closer to supplies of U.S. natural gas, a methanol feedstock. Methanex’s CEO told the paper, “We’ve become more and more … confident with the shale and tight gas revolution here in North America.”

As the Washington Post points out, this foreign investment will translate into jobs:

Among them is Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine, which announced last month that it will build an iron-ore processing plant in Texas to take advantage of the low energy prices. The plant is expected to cost $715 million and create 150 jobs. The company aims to almost double its total output by 2020, largely through U.S. expansion, and it has mostly abandoned making any major new investments in Europe.

…

Royal Dutch Shell announced plans last year to build a multibillion-­dollar petrochemical plant in Pennsylvania that will employ several hundred full-time workers and as many as 10,000 people during construction.

"People are looking at the U.S. differently, seeing the U.S. as much more competitive in the world," said energy expert, Daniel Yergin.

We can thank abundant U.S. energy for this.

Energy export opponents received a gift from the governors of Washington State and Oregon this week when they asked the White House to look at the possible effects of greenhouse gas emissions from proposed coal export facilities (like the Gateway Pacific Terminal in Cherry Point, WA). We’re not talking about just in the U.S., we’re talking globally.

The courts have determined that an environmental review covering U.S. products sold or transported overseas is outside the scope of the federal law that covers environmental reviews.

Lauri Hennessey, spokeswoman for the Alliance for Northwest Jobs & Exports said that this review is a bad idea, “Such a requirement could be particularly damaging to the Northwest, where trade and exports are so vital to the local economy.” Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business, added, “Washington [State] has some of the most stringent environmental standards in the nation and every project must meet or exceed those standards in order to go forward.”

This is part of an on-going, organized effort to block proposed coal export infrastructure.

It’s a pipe dream to think stopping coal exports will stop global greenhouse gas emissions. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) points out that China alone nearly consumes as much coal as the rest of the world combined. With its economy continuing to grow, that won’t change anytime soon. Since the United States has the more coal reserves than any other country, it makes sense that we should feed this global need. Countries in Asia and Europe need fuel sources for their electric power plants. If it’s not American coal, it’ll be someone else’s.

And while I’m on the subject of energy exports, let’s not forget that we’re still waiting for approval on liquefied gas export licenses. It makes zero sense to shut ourselves off from exporting two of our most abundant natural resources to the detriment of economic growth and job creation.