EDITOR:
Within hours of his presidency Joe Biden launched war on our energy production and the results were predictable.
He immediately targeted the Keystone XL Pipeline, resulting in the loss of 11,000 jobs. Next he issued numerous new orders and regulations stopping all exploration, leases and production on federal lands. This was followed with a barrage of new laws and further regulations directed at the oil producers that will cripple their industry. The White House justified these drastic actions in order to combat climate change.
In December 2021 Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm promised she would rid us of fossil fuels and said, “Oil executives should be thrown in jail.”
This war on domestic production and the results can only be described as ”self inflicted.”
Prior to this administration and for the first time in 50 years, we were producing more oil than we were consuming. This energy independence provided us a secure, stable, clean and consistent supply of energy. Without this secure and stable supply we are a weaker nation and our national security is at risk.
No part of this war on energy benefits climate change. Rather than employing the least polluting methods of moving oil, they have elected a more extreme, expensive and environmentally destructive course, adding to the problem they claim to solve.
Energy is now moved by trains, trucks and huge ships to transport oil half-way around the world, using fossil fuels. The typical oil tanker burns 150 tons of oil a day and the crossing can take 35-45 days consuming almost 6,000 tons of oil. In their wake these ships release tons of C02, N0x (nitrous oxide) and S0x (sulfur oxide) in addition discharging ballast waste, biocides sewage and human waste. Cargo ships have been classified as the world’s worst polluters.
The move to electric vehicles is not all “green.” To produce a single car battery takes 500 tons of raw earth materials. Materials harvested, transported and processed by equipment using fossil fuels. Also, there is a huge human toll and environmental cost of extracting these minerals. Electricity currently generated using fossil fuels is needed to charge these batteries. We need all available energy sources.
This administration has worked hard at one thing, keeping our energy in the ground no matter the cost to the American people. They beg OPEC to produce more then, without shame, turn their attack on our energy producers and others blaming them for our high gas prices and resulting inflation. Is this the new “Green Deal?”
This president wants everyone else to save him from himself.
He can continue on this course of applying stop-gap measures that are just band aids or stop this insane war on fossil fuels and get us back to energy independence. It is unclear why this president prefers to spend billions buying oil from terrorist countries at a far greater cost to us and the environment rather than use our own resources. What happened to his recent declaration to “buy American?”
CHUCK LARSON
Camino
