Former Democrat California Gubernatorial Candidate Michael Shellenberger exposed the lie Biden is telling about America’s energy policy, The Daily Caller reports.
At issue were claims made by Biden administration officials about domestic energy.
Shellenberger called them factually inaccurate and even deliberately misleading.
Shellenberger voted for Biden in 2020 but used his platform to objectively address the issue at hand.
The main issue Shellenberger sees is accusing the oil companies of corporate greed for the lack of investment in oil production and refinement capacity.
According to Shellenberger the fault lies with the policies of the Biden admin.
In regard to refining capacity Shellenberger points out that the problem is likely insufficient infrastructure.
In the letter Biden told refineries that they “have an opportunity to take immediate actions to increase the supply of gasoline, diesel, and other refined product you are producing and supplying to the United States market.” But, Shellenberger pointed out, American refineries are operating at 94% capacity, exceedingly high when compared to Chinese competitors, for example, that are at just 64%.
This, Shellenberger claimed, suggests that the problem is not corporate greed to take advantage of artificially high profit margins on refinement, but rather insufficient infrastructure to refine crude oil.
Oil production is also a major issue, but it isn’t the oil companies who are hesitant, it is the administration and its killing of a number of recent proposals to increase oil produciton.
President Joe Biden greets California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) as he arrives at Mather Airport on Air Force One Monday, September 13, 2021, in Mather, California, for a briefing on wildfires at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz) [Photo Credit: White House Public Domain]
The administration recently declined a proposal to open up new drilling in Alaska citing lack of interest from oil companies. However, Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said this was a lie citing conversations she’s had with multiple oil execs who are interested.
The admin has tried to say that over 90% of oil execs say something other than “government regulations” are to blame, but Shellenberger points out the elephant in the room.
Shellenberg also cited Brian Deese, Biden’s director of the National Economic Council, who recently noted that 94% of oil executives say it is something other than “government regulations” that is keeping them from investing in new drilling infrastructure. What Deese omits, however, is that the executive branch impacts national drilling capacity in more ways than just regulation, Shellenberger said.
Shellenberger argued that by constantly signaling a general antagonism to fossil fuels and a desire to phase them out sooner rather than later, Biden has diminished confidence in the expected returns in new investments, and Shellenberger pointed out that this lack of investor confidence was the top response that executives gave for why they were not building new refinement and drilling infrastructure.
Biden has tried to rally the American people in recent days by tying the increased costs in energy to the fight against Vladimir Putin.
The November midterms will determine how successful this approach will be for the President.
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