What’s the solution to reducing our carbon emissions while keeping gas and electricity affordable for Americans? According to President Joe Biden, it’s turning to countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela for gas.
By The Hill – Charlotte Whelan
Aug 16, 2021
As if lifting the sanctions from the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and opening the door for Russian energy dominance in Europe wasn’t enough, Biden is now giving us a glimpse into what America’s energy future entails: Adopting aggressive climate and energy policies domestically while relying on foreign countries to cushion the consequences.
Earlier this week, Biden finally acknowledged (through an anonymous White House official) what Americans have experienced for months: that gas prices are out of control. But instead of taking steps to boost our domestic production, Biden is turning to foreign leaders (our oil production competitors) and asking them to do it for us.
National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan released a statement calling on “OPEC+” (which is made up of the 13 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as 10 other countries, including Russia) to boost oil production to “offset previous production cuts that OPEC+ imposed during the pandemic until well into 2022.”
This was far from surprising. Since taking office, Biden followed the lead of climate activists by demonizing natural gas and fracking, failing to acknowledge that the fracking boom of the early 2000s led to the U.S. becoming a net total energy exporter in 2019 and 2020 for the first time since 1952. Not only did this boost our national security, but it also lowered prices at the pump and reduced our emissions by replacing coal with natural gas as our lead energy source. On day one, however, Biden reversed this progress by pausing new oil and gas leases on federal land and killing the Keystone XL pipeline.
Then came the pandemic, making the energy crisis worse. Lockdowns reduced demand for gas, and gas prices plummeted. In response, OPEC nations reduced supply to help boost prices back to their previous levels. But with Americans now returning to normal life, gas prices have gone through the roof and are reaching levels not seen since the Obama years.
Instead of reversing course and recognizing the costs of cutting domestic production, Biden is once again putting America last by already making us more dependent on other nations for affordable energy. Not only does this weaken our national security, but it also results in higher emissions since this oil needs to be imported by boat instead of being produced domestically.
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Read More: The Hill – Turning to foreign leaders to fix our energy crisis is a shameful solution
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