How Bad Is The Propane Shortage? President Obama Is Getting Involved -- And Not Only That, President Obama Is Ordering Pipelines To Get Involved -- Pipeline May Not Be As Bad As Everyone Says

[The propane shortage of 2014 is one of the "big stories" I follow.]

There is a lot of information in this story, linked below. Regular readers know the background. The government's actions are a dollar short and a day late. Remember, it was President Obama that killed the Keystone XL two years ago, and continues to dither.

Bloggers have noted since 2010 that North America is the new Saudi Arabia without the infrastructure. Where is all that wind energy? All that solar energy?

Anyway, I digress. Back to the story at hand, which is a huge, huge story. Note: the directive is for one week. I wish the government could respond to an emergency in one week; but the Obama administration expects private enterprise to turn on a dime.

Bloomberg is reporting:

Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) must prioritize propane shipments on a pipeline to the U.S. Midwest and Northeast, where cold weather has caused heating-fuel prices to climb, federal regulators ordered in the first use of their emergency powers.

The one-week directive issued late yesterday by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is effective immediately and applies to the Enterprise TE Products Pipeline system, which originates in Mont Belvieu, Texas.

The agency cited its authority under the U.S. Interstate Commerce Act.

Propane in the Midwest soared to a record premium over prices on the Gulf Coast last month as a polar vortex swept across the eastern U.S., dumping snow and ice and causing temperatures to plummet to record lows in cities from New York to Florida.

Supplies of the heating fuel in the Midwest tumbled to the lowest seasonal level since at least 1994.

“Clearly, it shows that the government is very worried about propane supplies throughout the Midwest and Northeast and not so worried about gasoline supplies,” said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston. “You’ve seen the price of propane spike, and you’ve seen trucks running up from Texas through the Midwest for resupply and the weather continues to be cold.”

My hunch is that President Obama saw the Great Lakes frozen over yesterday when he was in the agricultural capital of America, East Lansing, Michigan.  And after putting down the camera for a selfie with him and Debbie Stabenow, he read the weather report. It ain't gonna get warmer for awhile. We're in the middle of an ASCE (an Algore Solar Complex Event).

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here.

It may be interesting to look at the 5-year graph of EPD, click on "events/dividends" and then compare to MDU.   EPD pays around 4%; MDU pays around 3%.

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