Bloomberg: "US Economy Scores a Win From the Bear Market in Natural Gas"

Says Bloomberg News, not Michael Bloomberg, who has vowed to slash U.S. natural gas power plant capacity in half, block all new natural gas power plants and close ALL U.S. coal-fired power plants.

One can only wonder how an article with the article with the headline above got through the editors of Bloomberg. This article extols the benefits of natural gas and gushes about how the current low natural gas prices benefit U.S. businesses and consumers. The writer and editors had to know that their boss, Michael Bloomberg, spent $500 million to close U.S. coal-fired generation and that his money contributed to the shuttering of approximately 70% of them. He recently pledged an additional $500 million to shut down all the approximately 400 U.S. coal-fired power plants, slash the number of natural gas-fired power plants in half by 2030, plus block all new gas power plants after that.

The Bloomberg article begins by emphasizing how important natural gas is to the U.S. economy:

While natural gas doesn’t grab attention quite like crude oil, it’s a behind-the-scenes fuel that permeates the economy, used to heat homes, generate electricity, run factories and make fertilizer.

The article goes on to emphasize how recent price declines in natural gas have benefitted U.S. households:

Now that prices have plummeted to the lowest in four years, the relief is becoming apparent.

The clearest impact on costs so far is for American households that use gas to heat their homes. Consumer gas bills fell about 9% in February compared with a year earlier, the latest consumer price index data show. That helped to cap nearly a year of steady declines.

Indeed, recent declines in natural gas prices have been dramatic, with prices declining 9% from a year ago:

Bloomberg goes on to say that cheaper natural gas:

… is a big win for consumers with homes that rely on gas. Many people with tighter budgets have struggled to pay utility bills in recent years.

Energy makes up a significant part of the household budget, and it makes up a much larger portion for those who are less economically advantaged, said Ed Hirs, an economics lecturer at the University of Houston.

Bloomberg notes that not only is natural gas a vital fuel to heat homes, but it is also a feedstock for nitrogen fertilizers, which make it possible for more than 8 billion people to live on planet Earth:

Natural gas is used to make ammonia and nitrogen fertilizers, making it key to global food production.

Following up on his successes in closing coal plants, Michael Bloomberg has now vowed to shut down the U.S. petrochemical industry, which, in addition to making lifesaving fertilizer, makes plastics and packaging. According to the New York Times:

While the new campaign, (which Michael Bloomberg is funding) called Beyond Petrochemicals, has scored a few wins, the petrochemicals business is booming and highly profitable, and plastics remain cheap and in demand. And the industry is fighting back with its own counter effort: Beyond Bloomberg.

The New York Times article then extols the virtues of petrochemicals and the petrochemical industry before interjecting a caveat:

Petrochemicals remain an essential part of modern life, used to make clothing, cars, electronics, fuel and fertilizer, not to mention solar panels and other equipment needed in the transition to cleaner energy sources. There are no easy substitutes for most of the products, and the heavy global demand means that if chemical and fertilizer plants aren’t built in the United States, many will instead simply be built in other countries that may have weaker regulations to protect workers and the environment.

But the petrochemical industry is also a major source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are dangerously warming the world.

Michael Bloomberg no doubt understands petrochemicals' life-enhancing and lifesaving benefits, especially nitrogen fertilizers, and that billions of people will die without nitrogen fertilizers and the lifesaving plastic products that hospitals depend on to deliver lifesaving health care. But what is more important to Michael Bloomberg is “climate change” that he believes is being caused by petrochemicals:

During a recent interview at the headquarters of Bloomberg LP, the financial data company that has given him an estimated net worth of $96 billion, Mr. Bloomberg said he was trying to help slow climate change, which he regarded as an existential threat to humanity.

“If there’s something that can destroy the Earth and kill all living people (referring to petrochemicals), then it’s hard to argue you shouldn’t focus on that,” he said. “I want my kids, your kids, to be able to have a life.”

My Take: Like many other climate change zealots, Michael Bloomberg is saying that millions of people whose lives depend on natural gas for heat, nitrogen fertilizers for food, and the myriad lifesaving products manufactured by the petrochemical industry may die to save important people like himself and his kids from “climate change.” This worldview is called “Malthusianism,” which is named after the English economist and demographer Thomas Robert Malthus, who died in 1834.

It could be argued that the Biden administration is in the same Malthusian camp as Michael Bloomberg, as demonstrated by their recent decision to “pause” the permitting of new LNG plants. Many parts of the world, including Europe, depend on U.S. LNG exports to warm their homes and provide nitrogen fertilizer to feed their citizens and lifesaving plastic products produced by their petrochemical industries. At the recent CERAWeek Conference in Houston, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that the world shouldn’t worry about the LNG permitting pause because it will be lifted “within a year,” hinting that the LNG pause is nothing more than a political gambit designed to appease the anti-fossil fuel wing of their party to get votes in this year’s presidential election.

With that admission, Granholm confirmed that the decision to pause new LNG plants is another example of Malthusianism permeating the current administration and the NGOs encouraging and supporting its energy policies.

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