The impacts of recent missile attacks by Houthi rebels on container ships in the Red Sea are being felt far beyond the Middle East. Threats to safe passage through the strategic waterway have caused delays and detours, resulting in increased fuel costs and snags in the global supply chain, according to media reports.
Thus, it is a bad time for the Biden administration to further weaken global energy security.
Instead of embracing all forms of American energy as strategic assets and expediting infrastructure projects, the White House is in retreat. In the process, it is signaling to United States friends overseas that America may backtrack on its promises.
To paraphrase former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: With all the ongoing geopolitical chaos, now is no time for America to go wobbly. But that’s what the administration did last month in halting pending and future U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export approvals.
In an ideal world, the administration would value the good that America’s natural gas and oil abundance brings in advancing security, stabilizing global markets, and reducing emissions. Instead, the administration has left some allies wondering about the reliability of America’s promises. President Joe Biden pledged to supply Europe with U.S. LNG to fill a supply gap left by nations moving away from Russian piped natural gas. But the need isn’t short-term or otherwise momentary. Europe faces supply questions for the future that America’s LNG could answer.
Among other restrictions on U.S. energy leadership, the LNG pause is a win for Russia and an alarming turnabout for U.S. allies. Biden should immediately reverse it and embrace the advantages of being the world’s leading producer of natural gas and oil — the leading producer in all of history.
America’s energy advantage is national security that comes from access to abundant energy, which also shields America amid volatility. This advantage wasn’t built overnight. It won’t be sustained without smart policies from Washington.
Beyond our shores, we have used the American energy advantage to help our friends, whose security is closely connected to our own. In addition to providing opportunity for other countries to realize reduced emissions that result from switching from coal to cleaner natural gas, America’s energy advantage means our allies do not have to turn to unstable governments and state-owned sources to keep the lights on.
Examples abound in recent history. In 2022, America’s LNG producers helped Europe avert the worst of an energy crisis that followed Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing turmoil. And 50 years ago, the U.S. learned the meaning of energy security — or lack thereof — during the 1973 oil embargo. Secretary of State Antony Blinken even admitted that “we’ve not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the [Middle East] since at least 1973.” Let’s act to spare the U.S. and our allies from that era of energy insecurity.
Looking ahead, it is reasonable to assume that some countries will remain eager to weaponize energy. To insulate ourselves and our allies, America’s energy leadership should include all energy sources – traditional and new. But the White House’s current over-reliance on still-maturing energy sources, while abandoning proven ones, will not strengthen our energy advantage or global energy security. Instead, we risk increasing our reliance — and that of the world’s — on Chinese-controlled manufacturing and critical mineral supplies.
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With the global population expected to grow 20% by 2050, we need more energy sources, not less — specifically, more oil and natural gas, which provided 70% of America’s energy in 2022. We will also need more wind, more solar, and more modern infrastructure to support them all. If it’s energy made in America it keeps the lights on, and it’s produced safer and cleaner, Washington should support it—because it bolsters both U.S. and worldwide energy security.
Diplomatic alarm bells are ringing. Conflicts are brewing in strategic hotspots worldwide. If the White House’s vision is restricting the use of our natural resources, then the question here and around the world is direct: If not America’s energy, then whose? The answer could have grave consequences for ourselves and our friends.
Amanda Eversole is executive vice president and chief advocacy officer at the American Petroleum Institute.
