New article by Tom Harris at RealClearEnergy
After stopping Russian oil imports to the US, the Biden administration opened talks with Venezuela to try to secure the supply the country needs to help bring prices down. President Biden also tried to discuss increasing oil imports from Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia rejected his call, as did the leader of the United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. Leading up to the 2022 midterm elections, even Iran is now being viewed by increasingly desperate authorities as a viable source of oil.
However, the White House Has emphasized that it will not reconsider approval of the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline from US ally Canada. Alberta Premier Jason Kenny believes that even now, the project could be completed by the first quarter of 2023, if Biden approves it. Kenny said,
“If President Biden hadn’t vetoed that project, it would have been done by the end of the year – 840,000 barrels of democratic energy could have replaced 600,000 barrels of Russian conflict oil filled with Ukrainian blood.”
The market’s reaction to KXL’s coming to market will obviously contribute to lower oil prices. There are no logical downsides to the project.
Unsurprisingly, conservative politicians accuse Biden of preferring to cut deals with human rights abusers like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran rather than agreeing to a pipeline that has received all sorts of approvals. environmental approval and other activities to conduct. Republicans, and most recently 18 state attorneys general in their March 17 lawsuit. They talk about how safe and environmentally friendly the pipeline is compared to importing oil by truck and rail. Republicans explained that KXL will contribute to increasing energy security in North America. The secretary of special counsel disputes Biden’s legal authority to unilaterally revoke President Donald Trump’s approval of KXL.
These points are valid and important. But, since they didn’t really challenge the main reason why both Biden and former President Barack Obama killed KXL, they’re bound to fail again.
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/04/04/death_by_a_thousand_cuts_until_climate_scare_defeated_825259.html
In “Protect public health and the environment and restore science to the climate crisisBiden’s January 10, 2021 executive order (EO) revoked KXL’s license, he wrote:
“That analysis [done in 2015 by the Obama administration]… Emphasizing that the United States must prioritize developing a clean energy economy… The analysis further concludes that the pipeline approval is expected to undermine US climate leadership by undermine the credibility and influence of the United States in urging other countries to make climate ambitions work.”
Next, Biden gave his own views on the reasons for canceling KXL, talking about how
“Extreme weather events and other climate-related impacts have compromised the health, safety, and security of Americans, and increased the urgency to combat change climate and accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. ”
The President then reiterated Obama’s concerns about climate leadership:
“The United States must be in a position to exercise strong climate leadership to achieve significant increases in global climate action and put the world on a climate sustainable path. Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permitting would not be consistent with my Administration’s economic and climate requirements. ”
There are no less than 30 references to “climate” in Biden’s EO. KXL’s cancellation is all about the United States setting an example at the forefront of the world on climate change. It is a signal of virtue on a global scale. As the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation explained in their January 23, 2021 article: “How Political Symbolism Takes Down Keystone XL”
“A pipeline has become a referendum:… the economic arguments in favor of the pipeline cannot overcome the profound symbolic value assigned to it. by environmental groups and climate-focused voters. In essence, Keystone wouldn’t spell out the difference between a green future and a “climate disaster”. But the pipeline has become a referendum on the US government’s commitment to fighting climate change – a tangible things on which American activists can focus their energies. ”
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/04/04/death_by_a_thousand_cuts_until_climate_scare_defeated_825259.html
Harris challenges conscious politicians to do something about it.
So, are Republican lawmakers, prime ministers and industry associations seriously opposed to the ludicrous climate change symbolism that underlies the president’s decision? With very few exceptions, no. Almost all of them are too scared to be called climate change deniers by climate activists and their media allies.
It’s not just KXL that has fallen prey to the baseless idea that we can significantly affect the climate by moving away from fossil fuels. The coal industry has been severely crippled by governments’ climate fixation. US oil and gas producers recognize the impact of the Biden administration’s anti-climate change/anti-fossil fuel agenda. They see the growing environmental, social and governance-focused investment movement on Wall Street and how financial regulators are creating mandatory sustainability reporting standards. This will eventually lead to the exclusion of oil and gas from many portfolios. Not surprisingly, fossil fuel producers are reluctant to expand their operations.
In “Rules for Radical Conservatives – hit the left at its own game to take back America“David Kahane reminds us that:
“A good general never knows how to fight on the battlefield, the terrain and the conditions of the enemy unless he has no other choice.”
By accepting and, in some cases, fueling climate fears and myths about renewables, most conservatives have completely ignored this basic ‘rule’ in the argument. politics. So of course they have lost KXL and will continue to lose on many energy fronts in the radical left’s ideological war against our freedom and prosperity. It’s finally time for them to fight this war to really win.
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/04/04/death_by_a_thousand_cuts_until_climate_scare_defeated_825259.html
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