Democrats break ranks, demand Biden increase domestic oil production as he looks to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia



Democratic lawmakers are increasingly breaking with their party's narrative on fossil fuels as Americans face a growing oil crisis.

What do Democrats believe?

The Democratic Party's official 2020 platform committed to "combatting the climate crisis and pursuing environmental justice."

For years, Democrats have blamed fossil fuels for contributing to climate change and have advocated moving America's energy needs to renewable sources to slow the impacts of climate change. Doing so would require decreasing dependence on oil, coal, and gas, while increasing reliance upon solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear energy sources.

But what are some Democrats saying?

A group of Texas Democrats sent President Joe Biden a letter Tuesday calling on him to "unleash" American production of energy sources to "counter reliance on Russian oil and gas."

The letter — signed by Reps. Vicente Gonzalez, Sylvia Garcia, Henry Cuellar, and Filemon Vela — demanded that Biden send a "strong signal" to the world "that the United States will be a reliable producer and supplier of oil and natural gas for the foreseeable future."

Among the practical steps that Biden should take, the lawmakers said the president should "promote long-term American energy production," and they called on him to direct federal agencies to adopt policies empowering American energy producers.

"Domestic energy producers, refiners, and exporters are ready, willing, and able to work with your administration to give our allies access to a reliable source of energy and provide relief to American consumers," the lawmakers wrote. "We cannot wait for tomorrow to do what needs to be done today. We must unleash responsible domestic production to counter reliance on Russian oil and gas, while simultaneously cutting off Russia’s largest source of revenue. Now is the time to regain our energy independence and support our allies around the globe."

Two Democratic senators — Jon Tester (Mont.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) — also renewed calls on Tuesday for American companies to ramp up domestic production.

"We shouldn’t be advancing other countries that don’t share our values," Tester told CNN. "So, I think the opportunity here is to do it domestically, create jobs here, deal with it domestically, and also see if we can help Europe out, too."

Manchin said, "We should basically go back to the policies that we’ve had before. We have to do our leasing in the Gulf [of Mexico], OK, [Bureau of Land Management] lands have been off-target, all this has to go back into production. That’s all we’re asking for. And if we’re asking the rest of the world to step up, let’s show that we’re going to step up. And any oil that’s needed to our allies around the world, we produce it cleaner than anybody.”

Tester, Dem from Montana, on talk of importing Venezuelan and Iranian energy to offset Russian ban: "We shouldn't be advancing other countries who don't share our values."\n\nManchin: "If we are asking the rest of the world to step up, let's show that we're going to step up."pic.twitter.com/KHYeNYqoGF
— Manu Raju (@Manu Raju) 1646756238

Despite pleas from his own party, Biden has not signaled that he will urge American oil producers to help alleviate the growing energy crisis.

In fact, the Biden administration is reportedly looking internationally — to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia — to help meet American oil needs.

Meanwhile, deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh claimed Wednesday that even if American producers maximized their drilling capacity, the price of gas would be unaffected.

"That's why we have resolved to speed our transition toward cleaner, more sustainable, and renewable sources of energy," Singh said.

Horowitz: Time for red states to declare energy independence and thwart Biden’s embargo on US production



Biden can keep his windmills and solar panels and keep making us beholden to Putin’s petro-tyranny monopoly; we will use our God-given resources to become independent and lower consumer prices. That in a nutshell needs to be the message of GOP governors.

Whatever one believes we can and should do now to deter Putin’s growing hegemony, American and European leftists are the ones who empowered him to begin with by funding the solar and wind energy boondoggles while declaring war on fossil fuels. God has given America enough fossil fuels to support all of America and Europe and make Putin a nobody. One of Trump’s greatest successes was the amazing oil and gas miracle, which charted us on a course to being within a few years of full energy independence. Biden reversed all of that. The only way to neutralize the fallout from Ukraine that most directly affects Americans – exacerbating already skyrocketing energy prices – is by unleashing the states to declare war on Biden’s war on energy production.

The oil and natural gas boom created under Trump was allowing us to break Russia’s monopoly and stranglehold over Europe’s precarious dependency on energy imports. With revenue from oil and gas constituting roughly 40% of Russia’s budget, neutralizing that monopoly would have mitigated any emerging threat Russia poses in economic dominance. Almost 27% of all of Germany’s energy consumed is supplied by Russia, which is why leading European countries have been completely neutered.

During Trump’s first three years, his “drill, baby, drill” policies led to over a 40% increase in American crude oil production per day. With more drilling fields opening up, more refining capabilities in place, and the future of pipelines to efficiently deliver the oil, we were on our way to energy independence. Then came the inane COVID shutdown under Trump, and subsequently, Biden policies choking off any opportunity to grow from the lost momentum of the shutdown, which has led to our production stalling out:

Concomitantly, our unstoppable increase in exporting of crude oil has also stalled out under Biden’s policies:

As for natural gas production, levels increased by nearly a third before COVID, but have stalled out and have not recovered the momentum since. The Energy Information Agency originally predicted a 72% increase in production in 2020, which never materialized:

Yes, COVID was the original culprit. But that is the point. In many respects, the loss of freedom at home as a result of America following (or leading) the world’s failed response to COVID is largely what weakened our country, military deterrent, culture, and resolve and gave rise to Putin’s opportunity. Putin is the end result of corrupt, emasculated, and self-immolating Western governments and cultures. Which is why we need to focus on uprooting those policies and restoring democracy back home before we worry about Putin.

However, as it relates to Putin’s energy advantage, that is clearly the result of Biden declaring war on energy exploration and production even post-lockdown. In just one year, Biden has done the following:

Is it any wonder why Putin felt he had the leverage to silence America and Europe while reclaiming the glory days of the Soviet Empire? Had Biden stepped on the gas pedal of energy production rather than applying the brakes, he could have deterred Russia with massive oil sanctions. Now he can’t do that because he made us all dependent on their oil.

Waiting for the federal government to properly deal with the energy crisis is like waiting for it to restore our liberties from COVID fascism. The solution is for red states to live up to their reputations and go it alone. Texas should work with states like Oklahoma, North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming to grow an energy production empire around the immoral federal regulations. Why is it that the government can give Pfizer a free pass to produce poison and inject it in our bodies, but it regulates gas and oil production to death?

While a few states passed weak versions of this idea last term, they need a bill empowering the legislatures to declare any act of the federal government they deem unconstitutional in the following realms to be unenforceable in the states:

  1. Pandemics or other health emergencies.
  2. The regulation of natural resources, including coal and oil.
  3. The regulation of the agriculture industry.
  4. The use of land.
  5. The regulation of the financial sector as it relates to environmental, social, or governance standards.
  6. The regulation of the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
The only way to leverage against authoritarians like Putin at this point is to push freedom in the states where we still can against our own authoritarians who have made us vulnerable to China, Russia, and other bad actors on the international stage. The fight against Putin begins at home.