Freeze Or Famine Under Biden

Biden’s War On American Energy Has Forced Families To Make Tough Choices To Stay Warm

KEEPING WARM COMES AT A PREMIUM UNDER BIDEN

• Families are suffering through yet another unaffordable winter under the Biden administration as prices remain high for the majority of Americans just trying to stay warm.
  • Households relying on propane to keep warm are paying $1,345, a 15.8 percent increase from the $1,162 average paid during the winter of 2020-2021.
  • Those relying on heating oil to keep warm are paying $1,701, a 40.3 percent increase from the $1,212 average paid during the winter of 2020-2021.
  • The nearly half of homes who rely on natural gas for heat are paying $608, a 6.1 percent increase from the $573 average during the winter of 2020-2021.
• All the while, more and more Americans are falling behind on their utility bills – with low-income households being hit the hardest. 
  • Americans have lost over $3,700 paying higher energy costs since Biden took office.
  • In 2023, families were behind on $20.3 billion in utility bills, up from $17 billion pre-pandemic. 
  • ​72 percent of Americans say their energy bills grew over the past year as energy costs have soared at twice the rate of overall inflation.
  • Over 20 percent of households were behind on their energy bills in 2022. 
  • ​​Nearly a third of Americans say they’ve cut back or skipped necessary expenses – such as food or medicine – just to pay an energy bill.
• Adding to injury, U.S. average regular gas prices have been above $3 per gallon for 987 days straight.
  • The only solution Biden has offered for Americans struggling to pay these high prices is to buy a $50,789 electric vehicle, which have proven to struggle in freezing temperatures.
• Unsurprisingly, 56 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the nation’s energy policies under Biden.

BIDEN VOWED TO WAGE WAR ON AMERICAN ENERGY

• Biden promised to wage war on domestic energy production throughout his campaign.
  • In July 2019, Biden promised, “we would work [fossil fuels] out. We would make sure it's eliminated."
  • In September 2019, Biden guaranteed that, “we’re going to end fossil fuel.”
  • In September 2019, Biden said,  “I’ve argued against any more oil drilling or gas drilling on federal lands ... we should, in fact, be looking at what exists now… I would not allow any more."
  • In February 2020, Biden said “a transition [from fossil fuels]… it’s going to have to happen.”
  • In October 2020, Biden said, “I would transition from the oil industry, yes.”
  • In March 2020, Biden promised, “No more subsidies for fossil fuel industry. No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period, ends.”

KILLING AMERICAN ENERGY: A PROMISE BIDEN KEPT

• Biden’s promise didn’t end with his campaign; as president, Biden has repeatedly pledged to target American-made energy.  
  • In January 2021, while announcing new efforts to limit oil and gas production, Biden said “climate change will be at the center of our national security and foreign policy.”
  • In April 2021, Biden said we must “finally end fossil fuel subsidies.”
  • In March 2022, Biden said “we have to get off our dependency on fossil fuels.”
  • In March 2022, Biden said “we are moving in the direction that we don’t need” fossil fuels.
• On his first day in office, the Biden administration “issued a memo suspending the authority of the local Bureau of Land Management offices to approve leases, drilling permits, and mining operations.”
  • The same day, Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline, which killed 11,000 jobs.
  • Former Obama economic adviser Larry Summers: Biden "made a mistake by canceling the Keystone pipeline," "slowing down all kinds of permitting," and "being hostile" to "natural gas.”
  • This pipeline would have become operational earlier this year.
  • Biden also reinstated Obama-era energy regulations and began the process of rolling back pro-U.S. energy regulations from the Trump-era.
• In June 2021, the Biden administration suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
• In November 2021, the Biden administration announced multiple policies that targeted American-made energy.
  • The administration proposed increasing royalty rates on domestic oil production and limiting areas available for development, which would ultimately make it more expensive to drill for oil and gas on public lands.
  • The administration admitted it was “studying” shutting down the Line 5 Pipeline in Wisconsin and Michigan.
  • The administration announced new regulations for methane emissions which are expected to cost U.S. producers over $1 billion a year.
• In February 2022, the Biden administration indefinitely delayed planned oil and gas lease sales on public lands.
• In March 2022, Biden took new steps to suppress American energy, declining “to appeal a federal court decision vacating the only lease sale held on federal lands or waters.”
• In May 2022, the Biden administration announced a new rule requiring companies to “disclose greenhouse emissions.”
  • The rule is costly for businesses and makes it more difficult for U.S. oil and gas companies to fund their operations.
  • Starving U.S. oil and gas producers of financing could “have the unintended consequence of driving most of the production to national oil companies (NOCs),” foreign state-owned or controlled oil companies like PetroChina and Venezuela’s PDV.
• In October 2022, Biden urged Congress to penalize oil and gas companies with a windfall gains tax – a tax that would likely disincentivize domestic fuel production.
• In November 2022, the Biden administration announced more stringent regulations on methane emissions from oil and natural gas companies.
  • The new requirements are estimated to nearly double economic costs which will then be passed along to consumers.
• In his budget for FY 2024, Biden proposed $31 billion in tax hikes on U.S. oil and gas production.
• In May, the Biden administration announced a plan to limit how much cardon dioxide power plants can produce annually.
  • This would force the power plant industry to install billions of dollars worth of new equipment or shut down.
  • Experts warn this could worsen power shortages and blackouts and potentially raise prices.
• In June, the Biden administration ordered a 20-year ban on oil and gas drilling near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico.
  • The ban was opposed by several Navajo Nation officials, who argued that the millions of dollars in annual oil and gas revenues benefit the tribe and individual tribal members.
• In July, the Biden administration proposed a rule to increase royalty rates for oil and natural gas drilling on federal lands to 16.67 percent, as well as increase the minimum leasing bond paid by energy companies.
  • The Interior Department estimated this would cost energy firms an additional $1.8 billion by 2031, which would then be passed along to consumers.
• In September, Biden banned the transportation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) by train.
• In September, the Biden administration banned drilling on 10.6 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and severely restricted drilling activity on an additional 2.6 million acres.
  • The Biden administration also canceled all oil leases sold by the Trump administration in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 
• Commitments secured from COP28 reflect Biden’s anti-U.S. energy agenda, which has led to higher prices for American consumers.

BIDEN FAVORS FOREIGN OVER DOMESTIC OIL

• Instead of looking to states like Texas, Pennsylvania, and North Dakota to ramp up U.S. energy production, Biden has continuously solicited hostile foreign nations to produce oil.
  • The Biden administration begged OPEC to produce more oil, yet OPEC instead announced several rounds of cuts to oil production.
  • His administration traveled to Venezuela to enter discussions with the illegitimate, criminal Maduro regime to pump more oil, and later announced the U.S. would ease sanctions on Venezuelan oil.
  • Biden has repeatedly begged Saudi Arabia for more oil, even traveling almost 7,000 miles to make a personal plea.
  • Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg admitted buying oil from Iran was “on the table.”
• Along with begging our foreign adversaries, Biden chose to deplete 45 percent of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve rather than unleash American energy production.
  • The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is down to just 18 days of supply because of Biden — and refilling it will take decades.
  • In 2020, Democrats blocked the Trump administration from filling the Strategic Reserve at $24 per barrel, but now Biden wants to fill it at $79 per barrel.