Republican lawmakers have pointed out for years that many Democratic proposals for addressing the health of our climate depend on allowing other countries to continue to do the dirty work while American employers suffer under ever-stricter regulations. One wonders whether President Joe Biden gave any thought to those complaints when he called upon the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to increase oil production as a means of lowering gasoline prices.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., led a group of 24 Republican senators — including our own U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. — in writing a letter asking Biden to reverse that request.
It is mind-boggling the Biden administration felt no compunction about saying, in essence, that a group of countries not exactly known for their environmental stewardship — Algeria, Angola, Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela — should INCREASE oil production. Meanwhile, the administration is asking American oil and gas companies, which are under tight environmental restrictions, to do less.
“It is astonishing that your Administration is now seeking assistance from an international oil cartel when America has sufficient domestic supply and reserves to increase output which would reduce gasoline prices,” the letter reads.
Later, the lawmakers correctly point out, “The best and most effective way to reduce the cost of gasoline at the pump is to unleash clean, affordable and reliable American energy.”
We’re not doing the planet any good if we make a show of limiting our own relatively clean efforts while asking others to increase their poorly regulated fossil fuel production. Surely Biden understands that. Even if he had not connected the dots before, he must now listen to those who are urging him not increase our dependence on oil produced by other countries.
Otherwise, he is proving his fight is not against fossil fuels and climate change, but against the Americans working in our own energy industries.