Nuclear’s Bi-Partisan Moment

Nuclear energy, after decades of neglect and opposition, is having a bi-partisan moment in American politics.

In a recent E&E News article, Republicans and Democrats in Washington voiced their interest in working together to reform the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to enable advanced nuclear reactors.

“It’s a space where we might be able to find some common ground,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) told E&E. “These regulatory timelines do not lend themselves to fighting the climate crisis.”

At a January hearing, Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said, “We need to review the legal or regulatory conditions, procedures and practices to be sure to efficiently license new and advanced reactors. Safety cannot be an excuse to do nothing.”

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), chair of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate and Grid Security, has been touting his “Modernize Nuclear Reactor Environmental Reviews Act,” (H.R. 1559) to help free the atom from regulatory shackles. Duncan’s bill would hasten environmental review timelines and enable the NRC to employ more general processes to approve reactors, in lieu of bespoke and laborious environmental impact statements for each new nuclear reactor per current practice.

And, more recently, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) recently visited Fukushima and praised France’s waste recycling program in her Instagram stories. “Massive cultural shift: superstar Democratic congresswomen @AOC describes how she safely visited a triple-meltdown site in Japan. She further describes French nuclear waste recycling as a good thing. She has 9 million followers, many of whom are young women. This is wild," tweeted Mark Nelson, president of Radiant Energy Fund, sharing screencaps of her comments.

EIA: 13 States Upping Gasoline Taxes

In January 2023, state taxes and fees on gasoline and diesel fuel in the US increased in 13 states since July of last year, according to a new report from the Energy Information Administration.

Illinois outpaced California as the state with the highest taxes ($0.674/gal). Connecticut has temporarily surpassed Alaska as the state with the lowest gasoline taxes ($0.05/gal).

“Several states increased their fuel tax rates in January 2023, and many states ended the fuel-tax holidays they implemented in 2022,” reports the EIA. “For example, New York State taxes for both diesel and gasoline rose $0.088/gal in January 2023 compared with July 2022. Other states, including Florida, Georgia, and Maryland, will also end their suspensions of at least some part of their taxes on motor fuels during 2023.”

Federal excise tax rates remain the same—$0.183/gal for gasoline and $0.243/gal for diesel fuel—but the Hazardous Substance Superfund tax rate has been revived because of the Inflation Reduction Act and will now be adjusted annually to account for inflation.

German LNG Import Capacity Planned to Be Fourth Largest in World by 2030

Germany is set to have the world’s fourth-largest LNG import capacity in the world by 2030, just behind South Korea, China, and Japan.

“Germany plans to build 70.7mn t/yr of peak LNG import capacity by 2030, German economic ministry BMWK documents and planning applications by German energy firm RWE show,” reports Argus. “A total of 10 FSRUs are planned to be utilised in Germany. Two are planned for Wilhelmshaven, one for Brunsbuttel, one for Stade and six in Lubmin, which could become the largest LNG import cluster in Europe. Some FSRUs will be taken off line once the onshore terminals at Stade, Brunsbuttel and Wilhelmshaven are built.”

Germany currently has two operational LNG terminals, with a third slated to start operations by the end of the month. Three more floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) are scheduled to come online at state-operated terminals by the end of the year, pumping Germany's LNG import capacity up to 34.9 million tonnes per year. Deutsche Regas plans to tack on another FSRU by the end of 2023.

In the face of criticism from environmental organizations, Klaus Muller, president of German energy regulator Bnetza, has defended the capacity expansions. Muller has stated that supply security takes precedence and that Germany should not plan for mild winters. He also said that the country needs to think of its landlocked central European neighbors for whom it could serve as an LNG import hub.

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Conversation Starters

1. Morgan Stanley is feeling bullish on oil. “Morgan Stanley has just raised its global oil demand growth estimate for this year by about 36%! That's right, the bank is feeling more bullish than ever about the future of black gold,” reports the Oil Patch. “The bank notes [that] mobility indicators in China are on the rise, and flight schedules are looking up, leading to a projected increase in oil consumption of about 1.9 million barrels per day. However, higher supply from Russia has put a slight damper on the overall forecast, resulting in a smaller-than-expected deficit in the second half of the year.”

2. South Africa is offering tax breaks to help counter its energy crisis. “South Africa is offering a total of 13 billion rand ($710 million) in tax incentives to businesses and individuals to encourage investment in renewable energy projects and offset the impact of higher fuel and food prices,” reports Bloomberg. “Africa’s most industrialized economy is experiencing its worst bout of power rationing yet, with outages occurring for more than 200 days in 2022 and every day this year, because the state power utility can’t meet demand from its old and poorly maintained plants. The central bank estimates that the electricity crisis is costing the economy as much as 899 million rand a day.”

3. Don’t forget to check out my deep dive into Enron and its impact on American energy for American Affairs. It turns out, Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and the rest of the lads built our current energy paradigm. You can read it here.

Crom’s Blessing