** The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting increase in gas prices is responsible for most of the record increase in US inflation last month, US President Joe Biden says. “Seventy percent of the increase in prices in March came from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s price hike in gasoline,” Biden says during a visit to the midwestern state of Iowa, after government data showed consumer prices rose 8.5 percent over the 12 months to March.
** Environmental groups push back on President Biden’s plan to boost ethanol use in an attempt to combat high gasoline prices, calling it the “definition of short-term thinking.”
** On Tuesday, March 29, wind turbines in the Lower 48 states produced 2,017 gigawatthours (GWh) of electricity, making wind the second-largest source of electric generation for the day, only behind natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
** Enbridge Line 5 pipeline reroute in Wisconsin would employ as many as 700 union workers during construction, company says.
** U.S. natural gas production and demand will both rise in 2022 as the economy grows, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO). EIA projected that dry gas production will rise to 97.41 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2022 and 100.86 bcfd in 2023 from a record 93.57 bcfd in 2021.
** Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley urged the Biden administration to ramp up pressure on Germany over its reliance on Russian energy during an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.
** A new report finds nearly half of the 25 largest U.S. investor-owned utilities are working to delay the transition from fossil fuels through lobbying, public messaging or political contributions.
World
** Russia can easily redirect exports of its vast energy resources away from the West to countries that really need them while increasing domestic consumption of oil, gas and coal, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
** The government of the Netherlands will instruct companies not to pay for Russian gas in roubles as Moscow has proposed, as doing so would violate European Union sanctions, a Ministry of Economic Affairs spokesperson said on Thursday.