On the first day that Joe Biden took office, he started his attack on America’s energy industry.
Under President Trump the nation had become energy independent, actually producing more than it used and it was exporting oil.
But Biden, starting with his first few hours in office, “waged a war on fossil fuels,” one report said, trashing the Keystone XL pipeline that would have provided huge resources for America, killing an oil drilling project in Alaska, imposing vast new hurdles to the industry and making it harder to develop natural gas projects.
He’s also “defied multiple court-ordered deadlines to restart the federal oil and gas leasing program,” the Daily Caller News Foundation confirmed, after he tried to kill the procedure altogether.
So fuel prices have surged under his management, prompting consumer backlash, which then reached a fever pitch over the last two weeks as the prices surged even higher – passing $7 a gallon for gasoline in some states – as Russia invaded Ukraine and destabilized much of the world’s energy market.
But it’s not his fault, Biden says.
We know that because, because as Biden was announcing Tuesday, according to Fox Business, a ban on U.S. imports of Russian oil, the Washington Examiner confirmed Biden was blaming oil companies and Russian President Vladimir Putin, not his own policies.
“Let me say this to the oil and gas companies and to the finance firms that back them: We understand that Putin’s war against the people of Ukraine is causing prices to rise,” Biden said. “But it’s no excuse to exercise excessive price increases or padding profits or any kind of effort to exploit this situation or American consumers.”
His spokeswoman, Jan Psaki, had claimed just a day earlier that as gasoline prices surged it was time to pivot to green energy and people should be buying electric vehicles – even though they are among the most costly in the market and there is literally no recharging network available for huge majorities of Americans.
Biden’s claim?
“It’s simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production. That’s simply not true.”
He revealed how America benefited from President Trump’s aggressive promotion of energy independence, confirming that during the first year of his term, oil companies pumped more oil that during the first year of Trump’s term, before Trump’s energy policies had taken effect.
He said his ban on imports of Russian oil and gas was to target Russia’s economy as Putin pursues his war against Ukraine.
The report explained that Biden warned Americans, too, about what they’ve already experienced, that gasoline prices are going through the roof.
He claimed he is doing “everything I can” to minimize that harm.
Biden had resisted moving against Russian oil and gas for days after the war broke out, and said the other economic sanctions already had prompted the Russian economy to crater.
“One ruble is now worth less than one American penny,” Biden said. Also, Russian banks have been cut from an international transfer system, Russia’s access to technology is being restricted, and many American companies have shut down their operations inside Russia.
The Western Journal reported energy industry leaders were not accepting Biden’s claims the price hikes were their fault.
Psaki, in fact, had told a reporter to ask oil companies “why they’re not using” many leases they hold.
“That accusation is a complete red herring,” American Exploration & Production Council CEO Anne Bradbury said, according to Fox Business. “It’s really a distraction from the fact that this administration has paused leasing on federal lands, something that we’re concerned about and something that we think needs to continue right away.”
Bradbury explained that while companies may hold leases – and in fact are producing from about 75% of them – “these leases take many years to explore, to develop and to produce on.”
American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers suggested the Biden administration perception “represents a fundamental misunderstanding as to how this process works.”
Biden’s comments:
The Daily Caller News Foundation said the U.S. imported some 670,000 barrels of oil per day from Russia in 2021, after Biden launched his attack on America’s own energy industry.
And while Biden said energy companies have boosted energy production during his tenure, the Energy Information Administration confirmed that the U.S., which was an exporter of energy under President Trump, would become a net importer of oil again in 2022 under Biden.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
