Just hours after being sworn into office on January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order canceling the Keystone XL pipeline. The move killed thousands of union jobs, halted an infrastructure project already underway and pushed the United States back into dependency on foreign energy sources. Biden further exacerbated U.S. dependency by halting leases for oil and gas drilling on federal lands.
Now as gas prices continue to skyrocket, Biden is desperately asking the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC] to pump more oil.
"Higher gasoline costs, if left unchecked, risk harming the ongoing global recovery. The price of crude oil has been higher than it was at the end of 2019, before the onset of the pandemic. While OPEC+ recently agreed to production increases, these increases will not fully offset previous production cuts that OPEC+ imposed during the pandemic until well into 2022. At a critical moment in the global recovery, this is simply not enough," White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan released in a statement Wednesday morning.
"President Biden has made clear that he wants Americans to have access to affordable and reliable energy, including at the pump. Although we are not a party to OPEC, the United States will always speak to international partners regarding issues of significance that affect our national economic and security affairs, in public and private," he continued. "We are engaging with relevant OPEC+ members on the importance of competitive markets in setting prices. Competitive energy markets will ensure reliable and stable energy supplies, and OPEC+ must do more to support the recovery."
Under President Donald Trump's tenure, the United States was not only energy independent, but an exporter of American oil and gas.
President Trump gave us energy independence. @JoeBiden made us dependent again by waging war on domestic production.
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) August 11, 2021
Now he goes begging to OPEC.
Not a day goes by that he doesn’t endanger our economic and national security. https://t.co/H2xncEt2tz
The irony.
— Sonya Savage (@sonyasavage) August 11, 2021
On the one hand, KXL is cancelled because of the urgency of climate change.
On the other hand, 6 months later OPEC+ is asked to increase oil production because of high gasoline prices due to oil supply concerns.
2 days after the IPCC code red climate report.
Wow? https://t.co/awvFNqRoh6