By Linnea Lueken
Excerpt:
Immediately upon taking office, Biden made it his goal—along with his appointed Climate Czar John Kerry—to dramatically reduce emissions economywide. One of the notable actions taken was shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline, an action almost guaranteed to increase emissions, all while harming U.S. and Canada’s energy industries.
Next came the moratoriums on drilling leases on federal lands and offshore, some of which were repealed by a federal court in Louisiana, only to have the administration pause new drilling leases again just days before the Russian invasion.
Energy prices were already skyrocketing for American and European households. A recent Heartland Institute report calculated that the average U.S. household spent more than $1000 in extra energy costs in the last year, a very large portion of that because of the almost $1 increase per gallon at the pump. Prices have only risen since that publication.
While undermining the U.S.’s energy independence, the Biden administration waived sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, intended to deliver Russian gas to Germany. Russia is already the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe. Then, reversing another Trump era policy, Biden withdrew support from the EastMed pipeline, which would have supplied Europe natural gas from Israel, further cementing Russia’s gas hegemony over Europe.
Energy prices for Europe have likewise skyrocketed in recent years as their governments pursued similar anti-fossil fuel policies. Biden and UK leaders are aligned in their opposition to fracking; Biden pledged during his campaign to end fracking, while Britain canceled their own fracking projects. Combine this with Germany’s self-destructive energy policies of moving away from coal and nuclear power, and what you have is self-created dependence on Russian fuel.
With the price per barrel of crude oil solidly in the $90-and-up range, Russia, solidified by European and U.S. policies as the main exporter to the European energy market, is in a very comfortable position to move on their geo-political interests in the Ukraine and in the wider region, and is well-funded to do so.
Czar Kerry, the Biden Administration, and climate change obsessed European leaders paved the way for Russian action. With oil prices spiking over $100/barrel overnight, the world’s poor and working classes are suffering for it.
