CLAIM: Cindy Axne, a Democratic Representative from Iowa, stated that there is no logic behind the claim that green policies by the Biden Administration are causing havoc in oil companies and their production.
VERDICT: False.
In a radio interview with Let’s Talk Guthrie County last week, Rep. Axne stated that there was “no logic” to President Biden’s claim that he caused havoc on oil companies’ production and enacted green policies. He also signed executive orders during his first week in office.
As the Biden administration promotes a world without oil, oil investment becomes scarcer. To save money, Pete Buttigieg, Transportation Secretary, suggested that Americans who are struggling to pay high gas prices should switch to electric cars.
Biden has been aggressive in his pursuit of American energy independence since he took office. Biden has canceled Keystone XL Pipeline and stopped oil and natural gas leasing on public lands. He also stopped federal support for oil projects abroad and suspended oil drilling leases at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Jennifer Granholm, Energy Secretary, stated that the administration wouldn’t impose a ban crude oil exports because Biden lifted the sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. This move would decrease American energy exports. According to the Ukrainians, lifting sanctions on Nord Stream 2 is one reason the Russians invade Ukraine.
Biden’s “marque legislation”, the Build Back Better Act targeted the United States’ oil, natural gas and refining sectors. Katie Tubb, policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, stated that the legislation would have “increased royalty rates, bonding requirements and fees while restricting energy resources in Alaska, on the Outer Continental Shelf for the oil and gas development.”
The administration is trying to get rid of oil companies by “trying to position for the long-term” because they are looking to reposition their businesses. This has meant that oil production has not been sufficient to meet demand in the United States.
Tubb wrote this commentary in December for the Heritage Foundation, just before oil and gas prices soared to new records.
It is clear that the Biden administration, along with its allies in Congress, have stated clearly that they plan to shut down the American oil industry. What is it like to “work together” with an administration that promised to get rid of fossil fuels and recommended that oil company executives be “thrown into jail”
Granholm believes that this is the future Granholm wants to create. American companies are not likely to be hesitant to invest in equipment and exploration to make oil.
The Biden administration has attempted to ease the political pressure on gasoline prices, which are at their highest level since 2014. This includes trying to get more production from OPEC+ nations, releasing oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve and investigating the oil industry’s price gouging.
Tubb stated that the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s International Energy Outlook project no scenario in which oil demand will not rise through 2050. “But, the Biden administration seems determined to ensure that no oil of this nature will be produced in America.”
Rep. Axne will be running for reelection in the midterm elections.
