Whither an Energy Czar?

"We need an Energy Czar with a brain. We need an Energy Czar who will work for the American people and not the dolts in Washington. We are in a mess right now, maybe more of a mess than we were in during Jimmy Carter."

In 1977, then President Jimmy Carter, appointed James Schlesinger to be the first real Director of the Department of Energy. We really needed one back then, as rationing and gas lines were in the offing. The Czars we had under Nixon did not do the trick, so we needed a cabinet level position to really put some heft in our energy policies. How did that work? Pretty well - until now. 

I remember when the position of the Energy Czar was explained to the American people. Our energy policy was like a jig saw puzzle. It was a mess. It left us vulnerable to the whims of OPEC. Our only defense was wearing a cardigan sweater by the fire (with our thermostat at 60 degrees), rationing and gas lines. We had a long way to go, but after Carter left office, we started seeing some vast improvement. Vast, but not enough.

We are in deep do-do right now. Even if Slo Joe had not scuttled our fossil fuel industry, we would still be in trouble. We have not built a new refinery since the 1970's. We have not built a new nuclear power plant since 1996. It takes forever and day to get one of these plants built. But don't worry, we still have a lot of natural gas. Or do we?

We do have a ton of natural gas in this country. We also have quite a few LNG facilities. Here is the bad news. They are maxed out. To really help Europe out of their energy mess, as well as supply enough to our people AT A RESONABLE PRICE, we need more LNG facilities. Even though we have 12 new LNG facilities which have been approved, it is unlikely that some (maybe none) will see the light of day. Why not? The "greenies". The 2050 carbon neutrality deadline. None of these are in alignment.

How about our EV cars which are coming, and coming fast. First off, as most of us know by now, the manufacturing of the batteries for these cars are nowhere near to being "clean". In fact, they are a mess to make. And they are expensive. And many of the areas which contain the material we need, might not be as accessible to us as we would like. And we are way short of charging stations. And the electricity to run them. In other words, the EV is something whose time has NOT YET come. But our government does not care about the facts, nor the science.

This winter could be a Waterloo for both Europe and the United States. In Europe, people could actually die due to the cold, and not having enough heat. In the United States, many will default on loans and mortgages, as their heating bills will be so high. We will limp out of winter into an uncertain spring. 

We need an Energy Czar with a brain. We need an Energy Czar who will work for the American people and not the dolts in Washington. We are in a mess right now, maybe more of a mess than we were in during Jimmy Carter. Is there light at the end of this tunnel? Hard to say, as we don't have enough energy to keep the light burning.