Biden’s ‘We Are Going To Get Rid Of Fossil Fuels’ Is A Primary Cause For Shortages And Inflation – OpEd

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The world was previously decarbonized in the 1800’s and earlier, but Biden lacks a basic understanding of what crude oil is used for, as he tinkers with the supply chain of oil that supports the lifestyles and economies for the world’s 8 billion.

A year before being inaugurated President in 2021, Biden professed that “we are going to get rid of fossil fuels

Before Biden assumed office, America was in pretty good shape, having achieved energy independence:

  • For the first time since Harry Truman was president about 70 years ago, the United States was a net energy exporter, to finally become crude oil independent and no longer held hostage to unstable Petro-powers and the vagaries of foreign crude oil supplies.
  • The United States was the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world.
  • The United States was a net natural gas exporter for three consecutive years and had an export capacity of nearly 10 billion cubic feet per day
  • The Trump administration had withdrawn from the unfair, one-sided Paris Climate Agreement
  • The Trump administration had approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines
  • The Trump administration opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to oil and gas leasing
  • The Trump administration had reformed permitting rules to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and speed approval for mines
  • The Trump administration fixed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) steam electric and coal ash rules
  • The average American family saved $2,500 a year in lower electric bills and lower prices at the gas pump
  • The Trump administration reduced the time to approve drilling permits on public lands by half, increasing permit applications to drill on public lands by 300 percent
  • The Trump administration expedited approval of the NuStar’s New Burgos pipeline to export American gasoline to Mexico
  • The Trump administration streamlined liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal permitting and allowed long-term LNG export authorizations to be extended through 2050
  • The United States was among the top three LNG exporters in the world
  • The United States increased LNG exports five-fold since January 2017, reaching an all-time high in January 2020
  • LNG exports were expected to reduce the American trade deficit by over $10 billion
  • The Trump administration granted more than 20 new long-term approvals for LNG exports to non-free trade agreement countries
  • The development of natural gas and LNG infrastructure in the United States was providing tens of thousands of jobs and led to the investment of tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure
  • There were 6 LNG export facilities operating in the United States, with 2 additional export projects under construction
  • The amount of nuclear energy production in 2019 was the highest on record, through a combination of increased capacity from power plant upgrades and shorter refueling and maintenance cycles
  • The Trump administration prevented Russian energy coercion across Europe through various lines of effort, including the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation, civil nuclear deals with Romania and Poland, and opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline
  • The Trump administration issued the Presidential Permit for the A2A railroad between Canada and Alaska, providing energy resources to emerging markets

Biden bought into the messages from a Russian funded environmental group that gave millions to anti-fracking groups to stop, curtail or severely weaken U.S. fracking of crude oil and natural gas in states like Texas, North Dakota, Colorado, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Pennsylvania by implementing multiple restrictions on domestic oil production. America will be discouraging U.S. energy independence, starting with tightening restrictions on fossil fuel development by suspending Federal Oil and Gas Permits, encouraging the shuttering, and halting of further fracking efforts in America.

The unintended consequences of Biden attempting to rid America and the world of crude oil usage are being realized in supply shortages and soaring prices  resulting from the reduction in the quantity of products and fuels manufactured from crude oil that support:

  • Asphalt for roughly 65 million miles of roads in the world
  • Tires for the 1.4 billion vehicles in the world
  • Fertilizers to feed the world on this increasingly resource-stretched and crowded earth.
  • Medical supplies that are primarily made from oil derivatives
  • Jets that comprise more than 50,000 for military, commercial, private, and the Presidents Air Force One
  • Merchant ships that comprise more than 53,000 that move products throughout the world
  • Vehicles that are mostly made of plastics
  • Renewables of wind turbines and solar panels that are made from oil derivatives

The decarbonization efforts of the Green New Deal (GND) are well under way attempting to utilize unreliable breezes and sunshine to replace 2 of the fossil fuels – coal and natural gas – that have been used for generating continuous uninterruptible electricity, but crude oil is in a class by itself. 

While breezes and sunshine, i.e., renewables continue to underperform in the generation of electricity, the innocent bystander of crude oil, that is seldom used for electricity, continues to be targeted for elimination along with coal and natural gas. 

Crude oil is seldom ever used for electricity generation, but somewhere along the line, crude oil got caught on the chopping block efforts to eliminate ALL 3 fossil fuels. 

Today, Biden supports allowing banks and investment giants to collude to reshape economies and energy infrastructure with their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) divesting in fossil fuels ESG is a very dangerous precedent as the American people never voted to give banks this sort of control over our country.

The hydrocarbon processing industry, i.e., refineries, have a rich history of discovery, challenges, breakthroughs, trial and error, collaboration, and successes that have contributed to the world populating from 1 to 8 billion in less than 200 years. 

Looking back a little more than 100 years, it’s easy to see how civilization has benefited from more than 250 leading-edge, hydrocarbon processing licensed refining technologies used by the more than 700 refineries worldwide that service the demands of the 8 billion living on earth with more than 6,000 products made from the oil derivatives manufactured out of raw crude oil at refineries. None of these products were available to society before 1900. 

It seems obvious that the efforts to cease the use of crude oil could be the greatest threat to the civilization of 8 billion.  
Biden’s attempts to attain a decarbonized world like the one that existed in the 1800’s and before, would result in billions of fatalities for the 8 billion on earth from disease, malnutrition, and weather-related deaths, versus the projections of millions of fatalities from climate change. Yes, billions without oil are greater than millions from climate changes.
Realistically, there are no silver bullet answers to save the entire 8 billion population of the world.
An abundance of crude oil, the same oil that contributed to the world populating from 1 to 8 billion in less than 200 years, leads to prosperity for all, while a restriction or lack of oil leads to economic struggle, poverty, shortages, and inflation to maintain current lifestyles and economies.

Ronald Stein

Ronald Stein, Founder and Ambassador for Energy & Infrastructure of PTS Advance, headquartered in Irvine, California.

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