Energy in America

The U.S. economy is facing a new threat: rising energy prices.

A Democrat-proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation package will need "40 different taxes" to pay for the bill's sweeping measures, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said.

Oil has been washing up on some Southern California beaches since a leak in an underwater pipeline from an offshore platform sent tens of thousands of gallons of heavy crude into the ocean waters. The spill fouled the famed sands of Huntington Beach, known as Surf City USA, and could keep the ocean and shoreline closed there and in some other communities to the south for weeks.

Energy prices are spiking around the world, with the cost of oil, natural gas and coal climbing rapidly in recent months, roiling markets and raising concerns about the broader effect on the global recovery from the pandemic.

Oil has not been this high since 2014.

The White House does not currently plan to take action to alleviate gas prices that have surged to seven-year highs, deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday.

As oil and gas prices surge, the Department of Energy is doing damage control.

New Zealand largely kept out COVID-19 by closing to the outside world, a policy accompanied by stimulus to keep the economy moving. Now the resulting labor shortages and surging demand, notably for housing, have led it to become one of the first developed economies to raise interest rates since the pandemic began.

Coal supply shortages are pushing prices for the fuel to record highs and laying bare the challenges to weaning the global economy off one of its most important—and polluting—energy sources.

It reportedly took oil workers more than three hours to shut down the pipeline that spilled as many as 144,000 gallons of crude oil off the coast of Huntington Beach, California over the weekend.