At a time of heightened international instability, driven by unprovoked wars of aggression and the rise of new foreign adversaries, it has never been more important to prioritize American energy independence. Unfortunately, the Biden administration has repeatedly done everything it can to undermine this effort.
One of the latest examples came at the end of September when the administration released its highly anticipated offshore oil and gas five-year lease plan, as required under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The project proposes holding just three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico over five years, the fewest offshore lease sales ever proposed in a five-year period. The plan also blocks future lease sales off the Alaskan, Atlantic and Pacific coasts despite an abundance of untapped underground oil and gas deposits in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.
While the plan aligns with President Joe Biden’s previous statements, in which he pledged to transition the economy to 100 percent renewable energy and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, it also undermines America’s future energy independence. The proposal reveals that the administration is not serious about increasing or sustaining domestic oil and gas production. Indeed, while the U.S. remains the world’s largest oil producer, it is also the world’s largest oil consumer, and it continues to depend on fossil fuels to drive the economy and meet Americans’ energy needs.
Read the full Daily Caller article here.
Nate Scherer is a policy analyst with the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit us atwww.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or follow us on Twitter (X) @ConsumerPal.