So, who wants to take a guess at the REAL reason for rising energy prices?
Louis Seagray
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On March 2, 2022, Pelosi made this claim:
“The issue of the price of gas and the price of oil is directly related to what is happening in the Ukraine”
It’s gaslighting-Pelosi is laying the groundwork to defend Democrats in the November midterms. Will America believe the new Gum’Ment lie?
As we know all too well, high energy costs didn’t just appear the day after Putin invaded Ukraine, any more than inflation suddenly appeared because of Trump (not logical since the printing press have been running wide open since 2008)
From February through December 2021, Democratic President Biden made 25 decisions that affected gas prices, home heating costs, and other energy-related burdens on American families and businesses.
Driving to Thanksgiving destinations became more expensive for Americans. While holiday revelers were paying more at the pump, President Joe Biden announced the U.S. Department of Energy will release 50 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The SPR won’t drive down gas prices, according to experts interviewed by PBS. In terms of energy policy, the decision was little more than “a drop in the ocean,” according to someone.
Biden administration policies have also contributed to rising energy costs, which will continue to drive prices higher. Keystone was just the -please excuse me-drop in the bucket.
In the last 10 months, the president has made 25 decisions affecting gas prices, home heating costs, and other energy-related burdens faced by Americans.
Invasion of Ukraine cannot be a legitimate explanation for high energy prices, but these are.
#1 and 2: Adopting new EPA oil and gas rules
A new law that will cost more than $1 billion a year will govern methane emissions from oil and gas production, transmission, storage, and distribution, announced the Environmental Protection Agency last month.
Biden overturned EPA oil and gas rule reforms signed by Trump in the spring. Energy poverty will worsen, reestablish burdensome regulations, and have a disproportionate impact on small businesses with this resolution.
#3, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #8: Restricting or impeding energy projects (yeah, in an energy crisis this makes perfect sense).
In his first act after taking office, Biden halted the granting of new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters – a move that increases energy prices for the most vulnerable consumers.
It resurrected the “Waters of the United States” rule, which would limit energy development.The administration canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and New Mexico (despite opposition from the Navajo Nation).
Particulate matter and ozone standards are being sought by the White House, likely tightening them to unachievable levels for most of the country and creating new obstacles for energy project approval. Additionally, the president has rescinded the Endangered Species Act reforms, which will increase litigation and slow down energy projects.
#9: Rejoining the Paris agreement
Biden rejoined the Paris agreement without Congress’s consent in April, resulting in onerous new regulations (which, ostensibly, only seem to apply to the United States) that could raise energy costs.
#10: Making energy regulators unaccountable
To create new policies to regulate energy, the president has established several internal White House bodies (buddies). Despite the fact that these councils are not elected they have been empowered to take sweeping executive actions – which do not need approval from Congress – to regulate energy production in the United States.
#11: Forcing states to restrict driving
Under a section of the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, supported by the White House, every state would be required to develop state carbon-reduction plans that must be approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation as well as be updated every four years. Plans are being developed to reduce driving all over the country – even in rural areas where public transportation is limited and driving is the only option.
#12, #13, and #14: Raising the prices of cars and trucks
Biden failed to address the annual requirements for the Renewable Fuel Standard and small refinery waivers, and failed to create regulatory relief from the biofuel mandate due to economic hardship. His EPA also is pursuing a new rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. Such a rule may cost consumers $1,000.
#15: Establishing a new policy on carbon taxes for organized wholesale electricity markets
This carbon pricing policy statement, published in April 2021 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, endorses top-down policies that have been shown to be costly, ineffective, regressive, and rejected by the American public.
#16: Increasing the price of household necessities
An EPA final rule phased out the use of a common, inexpensive refrigerant. This policy is a de facto tax on air conditioning and refrigeration in the name of the environment, even though the military is purported to use 200 times as much in a single day for cleaning electronics.
#17: Stifling energy innovation
A sweeping executive order issued by Biden in May mobilized federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, to enforce mandates on businesses, insurers, retirement funds, and suppliers. These policies will stifle the innovation essential for improving the environment and will increase costs for a wide variety of businesses.
#18: Altering regulatory cost analyses
As part of the Biden administration’s economic and regulatory analyses, the “social cost” of greenhouse gasses has been raised. This will disguise the true consumer cost of regulations.
#19 and #20: Imposing new costs and fees on power generation
Clean Power Plan mandates were resurrected by the administration in an aggressive form. Regulations would be burdensome, but the environmental benefits would be minimal. The EPA has also mandated that even facilities with reduced emissions be listed as “major” sources, making them susceptible to permitting burdens and higher costs.
#21: Impeding Americans exports
Oil export restrictions could increase energy prices, not decrease them, as the administration considers them.
#22 and #23: Raising taxes (now THERE’S a shock…)
The administration’s Build Back Better plan includes more than a quarter of the “Green New Deal.” The Build Back Better plan includes extra taxes on natural gas and home heating oil. It also includes new taxes on petroleum and manufacturing, as well as a potential 8 cent a mile taxe for driving, regardless of the type of vehicle. Bikes are exempt. So far, anyway…
#24: Picking energy winners and losers
The Build Back Better plan would spend taxpayer dollars to force utilities to adopt more expensive, politically preferred forms of energy, limiting Americans’ energy choices.
#25: Fueling the fire for future regulation
Additionally, Build Back Better would fund the salaries of tens of thousands of anti-energy activists (gee, I wonder how they vote) who would perpetuate high energy costs by demanding more expensive regulations and legislation at the federal level.
The landmines in front of us are not just a “drop in the ocean,” as releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be.
These are many of the real reasons that the prices are skyrocketing-but we are being told to look at the other hand, pay no attention to the drooling incompetant behind the curtain.
We must all remember, early March, 2022, was the very first time a notable Democrat used the ‘Russian invasion of Ukraine’ as the reason for high gas prices in the U.S.
To shield Democrats from criticism during the November, 2022 midterm elections, Pelosi wants to rewrite history to blame high energy costs and Biden’s failed energy policies on “Russian aggression.”
The Democrats are setting up former President Donald Trump’s political comeback.
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