The Biden administration’s transition away from fossil fuels isn’t going as quickly as expected, and elevated gas prices show that the pace has become “a big political problem,” a top energy expert said.
Sanctions on Russian oil amid the war in Ukraine have only exacerbated the problem, resulting in higher prices at the pump and an increasingly unhappy electorate, Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, told the Washington Examiner.
“There are limits to how far economic force projection can reach. What we’re doing now is certainly going to test those,” Book said on the Plugged In podcast.
Oil and gas companies in the United States are feeling tremendous pressure to produce more domestically despite numerous White House initiatives to slow it down due to environmental concerns.
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But even President Joe Biden is feeling the weight. He announced plans last month to offload a million barrels per day of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over a six-month period, but there is only so much that he can do to ease the pain at the pump, Book added.
“It makes a difference [and] probably puts a lid on some of the price increases. But it’s not taking us back to where we were last year,” he said.
There isn’t much the administration can do to intervene because the industry is mostly private, Book said, adding that the SPR release and Biden’s short-term reinstatement of 15% ethanol blends in gasoline were a step in the right direction.
The answer to how far domestic production and alternatives, such as wind, solar, and liquefied natural gas, can go in the U.S. is dependent on policy.
“I think the answer is probably going to be one of pragmatism, which in the end is probably where the transition discussion had to go,” he said, adding that the move has gotten very “prescriptive” because of the administration’s narrow focus on green alternatives.
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Book, who also serves on the National Petroleum Council, said he supports a shift to domestic production and introducing cleaner energy sources and renewables, but there are some tough questions that need to be answered first.
“We have to ask ourselves as a country, are we willing to dig some holes in our own soil? Are we willing to build some plants on our own terrain that have pollution implications for our own people?” Book said.
No matter what, it’s going to cost stakeholders some green, he added.
The Plugged In podcast, hosted by former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Neil Chatterjee, brings on key players, from lawmakers to federal employees to industry experts, to keep our audience up to speed on the latest energy issues facing the country and the planet.
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