US Court Sides With Trump's EPA On Fuel Blending Requirements -- May 17, 2019

From ArgusMedia:

A US federal court today denied a request to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from issuing waivers that have slashed federal fuel blending requirements.

The Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA) "has not satisfied the stringent requirements for an injunction pending court review," a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals said.

EPA and the ABFA did not immediately comment on the decision.

ABFA requested the injunction in late April, citing still-redacted documents from a separate lawsuit challenging EPA's rapid increase in waivers of renewable fuel blending standards under former administrator Scott Pruitt. That lawsuit continues.

The association argued that EPA arbitrarily increased waivers to issue as many as possible. EPA has responded that the decisions were not a rulemaking that could be challenged in federal court and said it has followed the law to administer the program.

Biggest Non-Energy Story This Week For North Dakota? -- May 17, 2019

Link here to press release.

Full access.

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Beef

Re-posting from March 31, 2019:

In case you were wondering, or if you need something for that cocktail party later this week: Japan's "top three" wagyu brands — Matsusaka Ushi, Kobe beef, and Ohmi (Omi) beef — all hail from the Kansai region of Japan.

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Golf

Updates

Later, 5:28 p.m. CT: unless they move the cut line to +5, Tiger Woods will miss the cut.

Original Post

It looks like the PGA is doing what it can to keep Woods from missing the cut.

Throughout almost the entire day the cut was +3, the top 70 golfers (plus ties).

Woods went to +4 with a bogey at the fourteenth hole.

The PGA / Bethpage Black moved the cut to +4 which is now up to almost 90 players (87 to be exact). Seventeen are tied at 70 (+4). For newbies, the number that make the cut in most PGA tournaments is 70, not 90. But for Tiger it looks like they will stretch it a bit.

Twenty-two are tied at 87 (+5).

With four holes left, certainly Woods can pick up one stroke, letting him play the weekend.

Rimrock With Six New Permits -- May 17, 2019

Active rigs:

$62.72	5/17/2019	05/17/2018	05/17/2017	05/17/2016	05/17/2015
Active Rigs	65	60	52	26	83

Six new permits:

• Operator: Rimrock Oil & Gas Williston LLC
• Field: Heart Butte (Dunn County)
• Comment: Rimrock has permits for a 6-well Skunk Creek pad in lot 3/section 7-148-92, Heart Butte oil field

Ten permits renewed:

• BR (4): three Patton permits in Dunn County; and a Gladstone permit in McKenzie County
• EOG (3): two Austin permits in Mountrail County and one West Clark permit in McKenzie County
• Kraken (3): a Banner, a Pratt, and a Parshall permit, all in Mountrail County

Another Nice MRO Bailey Oil Field Re-Frack -- May 17, 2019

MRO may, again, get recognized as the best / most interesting "medium" operator in the Bakken for 2019.

See this link, #18842, Tescher 11-27H.

CLR has its Brooklyn oil field; MRO has its Bailey.

Consumer Sentiment Surges To Highest Level In 15 Years -- Trump Does Not Deserve Credit -- WSJ -- May 17, 2019

Updates

May 18, 2019: I just showed this to a Harvard MBA who had not seen the most recent survey. I showed him the graph below with the two ovals. He said that the survey was a "lagging indicator" and that in fact the Obama administration put this all in motion. So, there you have it. From the mouth of a(n) Harvard MBA.

So, let's take a look: google "is consumer sentiment a leading indicator or a lagging indicator?" First hit: investopedia. Confirms what I thought. However, yes, the current economy is the result of things that occurred in the past. 

Original Post 

The University of Michigan’s preliminary print on its consumer sentiment index rose to 102.4, up from 97.2 in April and well ahead of expectations.

Ahead of expectations. And that rise from 97.2 to 102.4 is not trivial.

The last time consumer sentiment was this high was in 2004, five years before Obama took office. 

Link here.

• The University of Michigan’s preliminary print on its consumer sentiment index rose to 102.4, up from 97.2 in April and well ahead of expectations. 
• “Consumers viewed prospects for the overall economy much more favorably, with the economic outlook for the near and longer term reaching their highest levels since 2004,” says Richard Curtin, chief economist for the Surveys of Consumers.

Going back through my journal(s) during the Obama years. It's easy to forget how incredibly bad things were during the Obama administration and how he was doing his best to make things worst. Oil was at $110 and gasoline was averaging $4.00/gallon across the US. He had no plan. His administration was supporting Iran. He was banning drilling on federal land. Today, "they" are still banning drilling on federal land, but crude oil (WTI) is struggling to stay above $60, and gasoline is $2.60/gallon, except out in California, where they now talk of banning automobiles.

And yet the WSJ has an editorial today: Trump does not deserve credit for this economy.

Link here.

The delta between the two ovals in the graphic above is not trivial.

Of course, CNBC reminds us, it's important to note that the optimistic consumer outlook was mostly recorded before U.S.-China trade deliberations soured earlier this month.

Significant achievements of the 115th US Congress, Pelosi's house:

And we move on.