Fossil fuels are necessary. That's a fact. At least for now. According to API (American Petroleum Institute), oil and natural gas make up 8% of the American GDP. It provides 80% of the world's energy and 10.5 million jobs in America alone. Participating in fossils fuels isn’t something we can just stop doing. Of course, we should always strive for green energy, but forcing it will only cripple one of the largest sectors of the economy. So if fossils fuels are necessary, why not make them American?
The Benefits Of Energy Independence
US energy independence put simply, is achieved when America produces all the energy it needs to power itself. There is no need to import oil and other forms of energy.
I’m sure just by hearing that you think of a couple of reasons as to why independence is good. In a wartime situation, relying on other people wouldn’t be a good situation to be in. A perfect example is going on right now. We aren’t even involved in a war but our dependence on Russian fuel is rapidly increasing our gas prices. If a country is energy independent, fossil fuels aren’t something they have to think about when in war.
Another benefit is actually a negative if independence isn’t present. We are supporting dictatorships when buying fuel from them. In the past years, the United States has imported millions of barrels of crude oil from Russia. Russia is now using its money and power to invade an innocent country.
Finally, and to many most importantly, America harvesting its own fuel is much better for the environment. America has restrictions. Its operations have to be clean and efficient. On the other hand, outsourcing to Saudi Arabia, well who knows what unscrupulous practices they participate in.
We have established that energy independence is good, now let's access two administrations. One that pursued it and came close to achieving it and one that tore it up and spat on it.
What Trump Did
Trump achieved energy independence. I say trump but really this is more of a conservative/republican pursuit in general. It was specifically Trump though who came close to achieving it in recent history. I say came close, because, by the true definition of the word, we didn't. We still had minimal imposts from other countries, but generally speaking, we were “independent from the world”, which is more than all of Europe can say. And if the spigot of oil was shut off, we would have been fine with our own production.
According to The White House Archives, he also turned America into a net exporter, meaning we exported fuel more than we imported it. We were the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world. In general, our independence opened an opportunity to make energy much cheaper for all Americans and made our nation stronger in the process. This feat of independence isolated America from outside interference and supply shortages.
And all the while Amerca continued to cut down on its carbon emission to the lowest it has been in 25 years. The United States never faltered in leading the world in lowering its greenhouse gasses.
What Biden Is Doing
One of Bidens first acts was to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. If you didn’t know, basically any nation can join, reap benefits from countries like America who contribute, yet never make any sacrifices themselves. Scott Barret, a professor of natural resource economics at Columbia University who specializes in organizations like this says it’s a free-loader issue. “Stems from the fact that countries would enjoy the benefits of global efforts to limit emissions regardless of their contributions”. Because of this, the only real reason a country would and should be a part of this is if they wish to look like they care.
Nonetheless, Biden rejoined, but that's the least of his energy atrocities.
Instead of keeping energy American, Biden decided to outsource it elsewhere. At first, we got our oil and natural gas from Russia under Bidens control, but now after they predictably turned bad, Biden has looked somewhere else for fuel. So where will we take our money next? Canada? England? Somewhere remotely good and moral? No of course not. The Democrat's focus is now on the oil and gas from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, AND IRAN. Aren’t we in the middle of an Iran–Israel proxy conflict? You may be thinking though: “those are the only places where we really can get oil and gas”. Well, I’m here to remind you, WE CAN DRILL ON OUR OWN and a lot more efficiently.
So why does Biden import fuel in the first place?
Well, it’s really quite simple. One of the Democrat's selling points is they plan to make the future “green”. I’ll admit it’s a good idea. If they actually did it and did it right. But instead, Biden's idea of going green is, instead of drilling in America, where we have restrictions, natural gas, and cleaner extraction methods we drill in Russia and Iran who create more emissions. So to answer the question, the only reason Biden imposts fuel is it makes him LOOK like he's doing the right thing but really he's just making it worse.
Why Does This Cause High Gas Prices
Earlier I said we have to be independent so we don’t rely on other countries. Well, today is a perfect example. We depended on Russian gas, but now that we have to sanction them supply has gone down. Supply goes down, prices go up. So in fact Biden is to blame for high gas prices. When your energy is independent your prices are based completely on the status of the nation, not the rest of the world.
Conclusion
On September 25th at a United Nations assembly in New York, Trump specifically warned Germany of what could come. “Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course”. This of course was met with laughter and glee. After all, the elite German leaders know best right? Well if you took a look at them now, maybe not.
Surprisingly, making the decision to economically bond yourself to evil nations that you will eventually have to cut ties with isn’t such a good idea. And maybe the rest of the world will start to realize this and stop electing politicians who pursue this irrational policy. Then again if people could make rational decisions like that we would be in a much better world.
If this article and the crisis have confused you let me put it as simply as possible. Under the Biden administration, we have become dependent on Russian energy. We did this so the Democrats look like there cutting on emissions but really we are just creating them elsewhere. Then when we inevitably had to cut ties with them because they're a horrible country, Biden decided it's a great idea to look at other horrible dictatorships. All the while America is perfectly capable of supplying its own energy and it would be even more sustainable because of our cleaner drilling styles.
