Re-imagining fossil fuels and their need in nations of the world

April 4, 2023

For the first time in more than a half-century the United States achieved energy independence in 2020 when our level of oil production exceeded our consumption.

This great milestone can be attributed to policies in preceding years that did not inhibit oil and gas production, and the oil and gas industry’s use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, which increased production.

As we all should know, oil and gas are important elements in the future, and will be for many years to come. Even President Joe Biden, who has the goal of ending our use of fossil fuels, admitted that back in February that “We are going to need oil for at least another decade.”

However, a year earlier, Biden began what has been called a “war on fossil fuels” with Executive Orders and policies that severely affected our oil and gas production.

As reported by CNBC, “Biden’s orders direct the secretary of the Interior Department to halt new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and waters, and begin a thorough review of existing permits for fossil fuel development.” In response to the anti-domestic energy position of the administration, domestic production cannot be increased to help lower prices and keep them lower.

Today, Americans face substantially higher prices on virtually everything in their lives, including electricity, gas and food. When Biden took office in January, 2021 the inflation rate was 1.4 percent, where it had been for the previous 10 months. Four months later inflation had risen to 5 percent, and hit a 40-year high last June of 9.1 percent. In December, inflation had fallen back to 5 percent, still roughly 4 times higher than when Biden took office.

Several factors contributed to the high level of inflation the country has experienced, and while it cannot be totally blamed on Biden policies, it is undeniable that his policies have contributed to the pain the people are living with.

In some parts of the country gas prices reached $5 a gallon, and the price of heating oil reached $5.52 a gallon. 

In response to the high prices of energy these days, the House of Representatives passed H.R.1, the Lower Energy Costs Act. 

The Lower Energy Costs Act addresses energy issues currently affecting the country by incorporating 25 individual pieces of legislation from three different House standing committees. Its goal is to increase domestic energy production and cure some of the price increases by undoing some of the Biden anti-energy policies.

Virginia 9th District Congressman Morgan Griffith described the Act this way: “It includes legislation to disapprove of Biden’s canceling of the Keystone XL pipeline, which cost the United States 11,000 American jobs and could have had a positive economic impact of between $3.4 - 9.6 billion. The additional oil would have been cheaper to transport to American refineries by pipeline, rather than moving the oil by truck or train. This would have kept gasoline prices from rising as much.”

H.R.1 requires the Department of the Interior to resume lease sales on federal lands and waters, and repeals many restrictions on the import and export of natural gas, including liquid natural gas. 

Also included in H.R.1 is legislation to repeal Biden’s natural gas production tax. This tax has helped increase household energy bills across the country. 

The Act reforms the country’s permitting process through changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) permitting process. These changes will streamline federal environmental reviews for all sectors of our economy by ensuring that the NEPA review challenges are substantive, and by setting deadlines for completion of the NEPA reviews.

It also repeals Section 134 of the Clean Air Act, relating to the greenhouse gas reduction fund. This $27 billion fund was implemented as part of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act to advance the bad policies of the Green New Deal.

Unfortunately, before the House passed H.R. 1, Biden threatened to veto the legislation, to the detriment of the country. And the Democrat-controlled Senate has so far indicated opposition to anything the Republican-led House passes.

The world’s need for continued use of fossil fuels, particularly oil products and natural gas, is obvious. And since the U.S. has abundant quantities that it and the rest of the world needs, we should continue to produce and sell those products until, through natural evolution, that need becomes non-existent. 

The United States does more to reduce carbon emissions than nearly any other country, and much better than China and India. Why punish Americans by imposing restrictions on their use of necessities and comforts to reduce these emissions when other countries are doing the opposite?