Executive Orders to Strangle America
Last week, John Kerry, President Biden's climate czar, showed how out of touch he is with hard-working Americans. When asked about the inevitable job losses that will follow President Biden's Executive Order on energy production, he suggested that those working in fossil fuel industries today shouldn't feel badly about losing their jobs because they would simply have to learn to "make the solar panels." Shortly thereafter, a statement he made in 2019 while traveling to Iceland by private jet came to light. He said at the time that private jet travel was "the only option for someone like him." President Biden's climate actions and John Kerry's comments are callous to the thousands of workers who rely on the energy sector to put food on the table and gas in the car.
In his first two weeks in office, President Biden has stacked up 29 Executive Orders dismantling much of what President Trump accomplished in his four years in office. Most notably, President Biden cancelled the Keystone XL Pipeline permit and halted any new oil and gas leases on federal lands.
Without a significant decrease in demand for oil and natural gas – which we know won't happen overnight – the U.S. will resume importing energy from overseas sources where we cannot control environmental regulation and where dependency on foreign oil endangers our national security. Let us not forget the many times that Russia has shut off natural gas exports to Europe, causing gas shortages and mandated gas rationing on consumers. Russia has used its gas exports as a political tool to cause economic harm to Europe where U.S. natural gas has been welcomed, but could become in short supply. We cannot allow any energy-exporting nation to manipulate the American people and we should not turn our backs on our allies.
Our fragile economic recovery and already high unemployment rates cannot handle the strain of these Executive Orders. Arkansas alone will lose over $3.5 million in revenue from oil and gas leasing on federal lands that would have otherwise been used to protect and conserve our state through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. A study by American Petroleum Institute found that the U.S. will lose a million jobs by 2022 and $700 billion in GDP by 2030. President Biden has no plan to replace these lost jobs with those in clean energy any time soon.
Instead, the free market should be allowed to use American innovation and ingenuity to continue improving clean energy sources and create clean energy jobs gradually. Rules and regulation will not help the environment or a suffering American workforce. It will only fulfill promises to the radical left who are out of touch with real American families.