The price pain of owner-operators, fleet outfits, and consumers is reportedly the result of a White House energy policy that supports sustainable sources such as wind and solar. Pres. Joe Biden’s efforts to rid America of fossil fuels mirrors that of his former boss, Pres. Barak Obama. That strategic policy makes the U.S. increasingly vulnerable to foreign oil producers manipulating the market.
During the eight years Biden served with Obama, they pushed what opponents called the “War on Coal.” Utility companies were financially prodded to switch to natural gas or suffer the consequences.
“If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them,” Obama reportedly said in 2008.
The Biden Administration may not be waging war on gasoline and diesel, but officials are certainly impeding production. A Forbes article called “Biden’s Plan To Outsource The U.S. Oil And Gas Industry” monitored the evolving anti-fossil fuel policy in 2019.
“The Biden team got off to a fast start in its assault on U.S. and North American oil production by blocking the Keystone XL Pipeline project, which would have contributed to jobs in the construction, refining, and transportation sectors in the United States. The administration also has put any new Alaskan production on permanent hold and frozen any new exploration and development auctions in the lower 48 states and offshore,” the Forbes article states. “The sum total of these actions is to discourage any new expansion of U.S. production and any attempt to regain the levels of production achieved by 2019, when the United States became a major exporter of crude oil and refined products, and of natural gas.”
One of the bureaucratic methods used to slow oil and natural gas drilling involved a simple regulatory change. During the previous administration, anti-drilling assessments included a standard $7 per ton climate cost. The Biden Administration reportedly raised the bar to approximately $51 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions. That set off a firestorm of litigation, delaying oil and natural gas leaseholders from moving forward.
From 2020 to 2021, Russian oil imports increased by a reported 24 percent. Although still a fraction of domestic crude output, the U.S. has not returned to the peak production of 2019. When prices at the pump became unwieldy, the White House did not reverse field. Instead, the president reached out to Russia and OPEC to increase their output.
The idea of a foreign entity — particularly rival states — to stabilize passenger vehicle gasoline, home heating oil, and truck diesel was a big ask. Both oil exporters essentially told the White House to have American companies pump it themselves. Everyday people won’t need a Venn diagram to figure out the fuel cost implications of sanctioning Russia while the war in Ukraine drags.
Will the war in Ukraine impact truck diesel over the long term? Any disruption in globally traded oil will impact truck drivers, homeowners, and consumers. Like the rising utility bills during the Obama years, this seems to be the price of transitioning to sustainable energy.
Sources: cbsnews.com, washingtonpost.com, politico.com, forbes.com
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