As a non-American: Does there need to be any kind of factual backing before an "emergency" can be declared? Is the word "emergency" just a way to circumvent existing laws beyond what the usual presidential EO can do? Or is "emergency" just a dramatic word being inserted into the document with no actual meaning?
this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2025
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It's the second one.
Funsies. Thanks.
No factual backing is required, and yeah that's pretty much all a state of emergency is for.
just a way to circumvent existing laws beyond what the usual presidential EO can do?
Yes. It's sector limited "martial law" powers. "Defense procurement act" powers to shower oligarchs with money, as "Health emergency" of covid allowed for Pharma enrichment EO policies.
Small disagreement: since oil and gas are a global market, increasing supply will cause the prices to go down globally.
This is a political move of course. Trump can point to low gas prices and say that he did that for everybody. The lower prices will also make gas guzzlers more economically viable; further pushing the public away from using better systems of transportation.
So it's actually worse than you would think.
Gas is not a simple global market like oil is and there isn't a single methane price everyone pays. That would require significantly more LNG terminals around the world and policy changes. This is precisely why gas companies want to build more LNG terminals - this would increase volume while raising domestic prices (and likely lowering foreign prices). It's not a simple econ 101 global free market though.
We are in an energy emergency, even though we're a net exporter of fossil fuels, but we also need to stop all wind power for some reason.
Because of "energy emergency", somehow means wind energy must be exterminated, and replaced with more expensive new FF plants. 4x more energy efficient EVs must also be curtailed, and lose their efficiency advantage through FF electricity plants.
Exporting more LNG also means making NG more expensive for Americans.
All of these actions are the opposite that would be taken if a real energy emergency existed.