On his first day in office, President Joe Biden embarked on a campaign to rein in domestic oil and gas production. On his 204th day in office, he was pleading with OPEC to increase its production to stem the sharp rise in gasoline prices, to which OPEC said no dice.
Virtually overnight, the nation has gone from Trump-era “energy dominance” to a Carter-era energy crisis.
But unlike Jimmy Carter, who blundered his way into gasoline shortages, Biden is intentionally creating the current situation to pay homage to climate “crisis” environmentalists.
During his presidential campaign, Biden promised to “get rid of fossil fuels.” Since taking office, he’s been busy trying to carry out that pledge.
One of the first things he did in office was to call a halt on oil and gas leases on federal lands and off our coastlines, and has yet to resume allowing them even after a federal judge ordered the administration to do so. He shut down construction of the Keystone Pipeline. He blocked energy development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He directed federal agencies to “eliminate fossil fuel subsidies as consistent with applicable law.” He’s promised to add some $90 billion to the industry’s tax burden by eliminating what he calls tax “subsidies.”
Even now, the administration “is preparing to release a blueprint for limiting sales of U.S. drilling rights as rising oil and gasoline prices highlight the risks of curtailing domestic crude production,” reports Bloomberg. “The Interior Department also is expected to limit new leases in some sensitive coastal and Western areas and begin a broad study of the climate effects of oil and gas development on federal property.”
This is a 100% reversal of the policies of the Trump administration, which came into office promising to unleash the domestic oil and gas industry on the understanding that America was blessed with abundant supplies of these energy sources, and that freeing up access would be a huge boon to the economy and national security.
Trump’s plan was working. From November 2016 to March 2020, domestic oil production shot up 44% and imports dropped 33%.
As a result, by 2019, the U.S. became a net oil exporter for the first time since at least 1949. By December 2020, the U.S. was exporting an average of 1.2 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products every day.
What’s happened under Biden’s “build back better” nonsense?
Domestic oil production has been flat all year, and so hasn’t come close to recovering the ground lost during the COVID economic lockdowns last spring. Imports, meanwhile, are on the rise.
As a result, the country was a net oil importer again from March through May (the last month for which data are available), according to the Energy Information Administration.
The press, naturally, is clueless to explain any of this, other than to parrot White House propaganda. To wit: The administration says that Biden’s attacks on the oil and gas industry have nothing to do with the sharp increase in gasoline prices since he took office (see nearby chart). The line we’re being fed is that higher prices are simply the result of production not keeping pace with the return of economic activity as COVID restrictions ended.
Really? You will notice that Biden is not lifting a finger to help boost domestic production, and his anti-oil policies aren’t exactly encouraging the industry to do any more than it is now.
Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., had it just right when he said: “Begging OPEC to pump more oil while kneecapping abundant U.S. energy production is next-level stupidity. Under President Trump we were energy independent, but thanks to these misguided policies we’re killing U.S. production while boosting Russia, Iran, and other adversaries.”
Chalk it up to yet another one of Biden’s self-inflicted wounds.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Under the Biden climate plan, America will be discouraging U.S. energy independence, starting with suspending Federal Oil and Gas Permits, encouraging the shuttering, and halting of further fracking efforts in America, and the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. As a result, China just received an unwarranted gift of industrial and military advantage. America’s most serious competitor can now look forward to Canada’s oil flowing across the Pacific on tankers, rather than south to the U.S.A. via the safer, cleaner, and more efficient pipeline.
The unintended consequences of Biden’s goal of getting rid of fossil fuels in America by 2050 is that it would result in importing the fuels and products from foreign locations that have significantly less stringent environmental controls. That plan will work, but with higher costs to the American consumer, and may put America at a national security risk with increased dependence on foreign countries for the products and fuels to support America’s economy.
Two words. Dementia Joe.
No conundrum. This is all part of the left’s drive to destroy the USA economy, reduce it to a failed state, ripe for Communist takeover.Xiden and his puppeteer have worked hard and well to achieve their objective.
The Puppet in chief has allowed the hard left to take an energy dominate nation and thrown us all in a ditch.
And you’ll never guess what happens after they’ve thrown us in said ditch?…at gun point btw
The only people Biden helped “Build back Better” are the Taliban.
Biden will leave office with driving gasoline powered vehicles significantly more expensive and more inconvenient than when he began. Forget what the administration says–watch what it does.
Kakistocrisy in control.
No doubt TDS syndrome was a factor along with the climate change, green energy cabal.
How Did We Go From Energy Dominance To Energy Begging In Just 8 Months?
Senile pedo Joe Biden was elected in a rigged election, that is how.
Even if the election were to be proved to be spotless, the media’s endless lying and interference (aiding democrat endless lies and interference) would certainly fit any reasonable definition of rigging. I think the lies re trump/russia went on for over 3 years. An unknown number of people wound up voting biden from sheer exhaustion, inundated with a daily litany of bad orange man news claiming he’s satan and voted on the premise that there must be fire somewhere with that much smoke. So yes, it was rigged. Absolutely.
Answer: Stupid F—— Biden. He won’t resign, step down or capitulate- otherwise…………..
Biden’s principle repeated campaign promise was that he was going to undo all of Trump’s achievements. To our detriment, his dedication to that promise has been effective – and Republicans have not put into stopping him the level of energy and focus the Progressives put into virtually everything they do. They have focus; Republicans fumble about like a cartoon blind mole in bright sunlight. Afghanistan is another achievement, another feather in his “undo Trump’s accomplishments” hat. The death and suffering is just collateral damage. And he’s telling Taiwan what they have to look forward to. I’ve begun to wonder – he’s been such a successful disaster generator on one project after another without skipping a beat – is he really as clueless as he appears or is he pulling a Vincent Gigante act?
this isn’t incompetence. Biden is destroying this country on purpose.
Proces were going up and would have gone up regardless of who won the election. Demand was down in 2019 so prices dropped. Demand is high now. It’s not that difficult.
It falls under the category of dysfunctional government led by a moronic idiot.
Your mistake Americans is to think Biden et al are clueless buffoons, you simply lack or choose to deny the reference frame that would make sense of what they are doing.
Just wait until the next oil crisis in the Mideast like when Saudi’s got attacked a while back and the price of gas barely jumped because we were energy independent! Thanks, Joe!