This is the predicament the Biden administration has left the country in. We can’t pump oil domestically so we’re groveling to dictators and tyrants around the world to help us out.
Just a few days ago as it was announced OPEC+ (sounds like a bad Saudi streaming subscription) announced it would start cutting production to “stabilize” prices. The announcement will lead to rising oil prices, of course, leaving Americans ultimately paying more at the pump and more for things like home heating oil.
A result of this move would naturally be to increase domestic production, encourage more refining expansion, and unleash the American energy juggernaut. That’s not what President Biden chose to do. Instead, in the irony of ironies, America went groveling to Venzaula hoping that easing sanctions on the socialist dictatorship would let them increase energy production to make up the OPEC+ cuts, Fox Business reports:
The Biden administration is reportedly gearing up to wind down sanctions against Venezuela’s authoritarian regime, clearing the way for Chevron to resume its oil operations and reopen U.S. and European markets.
People familiar with the proposal told The Wall Street Journal that any sanctions relief wound hinge on talks between the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the country’s opposition regarding free and fair presidential elections in 2024. So far, such talks have failed to materialize.
Discussions of possible sanctions relief on Venezuela come as President Biden faces mounting political pressure to address rising gas prices ahead of the November midterms. It also comes as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) said it would be cutting oil production by 2 million barrels a day, creating another headache for the president.
Such a deal between the U.S. and Venezuela could potentially enrage critics on all sides. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has asked the U.S. government for details of Chevron’s expanded license request to operate in the country.
The Biden administration in its unwavering aversion to domestic energy production would rather empower dictators and generate more of an environmental impact by importing oil by sea than simply producing more domestically or buying it from a close neighbor like Canada.
In a further layer to this story, the Biden administration is also considering a block on new offshore drilling leases, something that America relies upon for domestic energy production and consumption. Without allowing for an expansion of offshore drilling, America would fall further behind in whatever energy independence we have left. Nonetheless, even as we live a the mercy of the OPEC cabal and now beg dictators for help, Biden hasn’t ruled out a ban on new offshore leases:
The Biden administration is nearing a decision on the future of federal offshore fossil fuel drilling and hasn’t ruled out a complete block on new leases.
On Thursday, the 90-day comment period for the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) proposed five-year offshore leasing plan ended, paving the way for the agency to issue a final decision. In July, the DOI unveiled the plan which gutted a Trump administration proposal, ruling out any leasing in the Atlantic or Pacific and opening the door to an unprecedented scenario where no lease sales would be held through 2028.
Under the DOI’s proposal, the federal government could choose to hold anywhere between 0-11 offshore lease sales, compared to the Trump administration’s version which called for 47 such sales. Federal law mandates the interior secretary to issue offshore leasing plans every five years laying out prospective oil and gas lease sales.
However, the administration dragged its feet on a replacement plan as it considered objections from environmental groups, which oppose all new fossil fuel leasing, and pressure from industry as gas prices surged. In her statement announcing the proposal on July 1, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland reaffirmed her and President Biden’s “commitment to transition to a clean energy economy.”
Biden is owned by the green lobby and could seem to care less about Americans struggling to put gas in their cars and heat their homes affordably. The end goal, which Biden called the “incredible transition,” is to eliminate oil and gas production in the United States altogether. He stated it back in May:
He doesn’t sound very confident. “God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger.” In other words, the current short-term suffering will be worth it, he says, once everyone owns an electric car and gets their electricity from windmills and solar farms. The problem remains that without oil and natural gas, there isn’t enough energy in the grid to charge all the electric vehicles and keep the lights on.
That future is much further away than Biden wants to admit. The green lobby is content with forcing it on the country overnight as radically and drastically as possible. In their demented view, the “existential threat” of climate change means the government must do anything and everything to eliminate the use of petroleum-based fuel, today.
If that results in $10 a gallon gasoline to make electric cars seem affordable, then so be it, the ends justify the means.
America has been crippled by backward and incoherent energy policies since January 2021. We’re now at the behest of Russia, Saudi Arabia, and, apparently, Venezuela to make sure energy prices remain somewhat affordable. That’s a pretty dangerous position to be in and it’s thanks entirely to the Biden-Harris administration.
