Demonstrating how unafraid OPEC is of President Joe Biden, the oil-producing cartel has announced a 2-million-barrel-a-day cut in production. The decision will likely cause a spike in energy prices, including gasoline, just in time for the 2022 midterm elections.
As certainly as night follows day, the Left is proposing a response that can best be described as cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. For example, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tweeted that the United States should break its military alliance with the Arab Gulf states and go hell-bent for leather to renewable energy.
“OPEC’s decision to cut back on production is a blatant attempt to increase gas prices at the pump that cannot stand. We must end OPEC’s illegal price-fixing cartel, eliminate military assistance to Saudi Arabia, and move aggressively to renewable energy.”
BIDEN’S ENERGY POLICY IS A WALTZ OF THE ABSURD
Three House Democrats, Reps. Tom Malinowski (NJ), Sean Casten (IL), and Susan Wild (PA), want to put the breaking of this alliance into law.
We have given Saudi Arabia and the UAE anti-ballistic missile batteries that defend against missile attacks from Iran and Iranian surrogates. Such a withdrawal of American military support would be incalculably destabilizing in the Middle East. An Iranian or Iranian-supported strike on Arab Gulf oil fields would create an oil and gas price shock that would make the current situation pale in comparison.
Biden is currently begging for more oil and gas, not from Texas or Alaska, but from Venezuela. He is also draining more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
But a more appropriate and productive response exists to the OPEC action. The Biden administration can remove the boot it has placed on the neck of domestic oil and gas production. It can fast-track drilling permits to start getting as much product out of the ground as quickly as possible.
The White House can also help to speed the creation of more refining capacity. Crude oil is useless unless it can be refined into a fuel, such as gasoline, home heating oil, and so on.
Incidentally, Biden can reverse the order that eliminated the Keystone XL pipeline. He can try to form an agreement with private companies to complete the pipeline and get it busy delivering oil from Canada to American refineries.
Finally, Biden can streamline the approval process for the construction of new nuclear power plants. He can pressure liberal-run states such as California to allow the construction of such power plants.
Expansion of drilling and refining capacity, restoration of the Keystone XL, and streamlining of nuclear power plant construction would place a downward pressure on the price of oil and gas. More than a petulant breaking of an important military alliance, producing more domestic energy would thwart OPEC’s attempt to increase the price of oil and gas. It would restore the energy independence the United States enjoyed during the Trump presidency, which Biden casually threw away. The U.S. will also have enough oil and gas to aid energy-strapped Europe. More domestic energy production would slash the income Putin derives from selling Russia’s oil and gas and would cut the funding he needs to maintain his war machine in Ukraine.
If the Biden administration declines to undertake these commonsense decisions, the Republicans, already salivating at the prospect of recapturing Congress, can pledge to undertake them by legislation. A Republican-controlled Congress can pass bills that will restore American energy independence, reduce the price of energy, and dare Biden to veto them.
Energy reform is one of those good policies that is also good politics. Biden can help to restore his flagging fortunes if he undertakes such reform immediately. If Biden declines to do so, Republicans can do so once they take over Congress. At the very least, the GOP will set the stage for victory in the 2024 presidential election, as candidates pledge to restore energy independence.
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Mark Whittington, who writes frequently about space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration titled Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon? as well as The Moon, Mars and Beyond, and, most recently, Why is America Going Back to the Moon? He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.
