OPINION
Colin Reed
Colin Reed is co-founder of South and Hill Strategies.
From blocking commutes by lying in traffic to vandalizing priceless pieces of art, it seems there’s no conduct too low for the extreme eco left. The latest gambit came from a group called “Climate Defiance,” which accused the head of Chevron of “killing people” during a disgraceful outburst in New York.
Setting aside the offensive and out-of-bounds nature of the allegations, the incident lays bare a litany of flaws with the broader policy argument. Let’s unpack a few of them.
For starters, when protestors scream, “How do you sleep at night,” they should look in the mirror. Nearly 775 million people in the world (more than twice the population of the United States) live in energy poverty and without access to electricity. Sadly, the numbers are moving in the wrong direction, driven by a rise in sub-Saharan Africa.
Climate Defiance bills itself as a “youth-led group using direct action to resist fossil fuels”. Yet in 2023, more than half (60%) of the electricity generated in the United States came from those same fossil fuels. It is a similar number at a global level. Suppressing fossil fuels is akin to extending poverty, plain and simple.
Next is America’s need for more power, not less. An alarming story from the Washington Post detailed that “vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power.” The rise of emerging technology like AI and data centres are two major drivers. Power outages become even more frightening during bouts of extreme heat or cold, which can quickly become life-or-death situations.
We need more energy from every direction. Now is not the time to be taking the most reliable players off the board.
Then there is the issue of the environment. American oil and gas companies are highly regulated and subject to strict standards. They are also trying to be good-faith partners in environmental stewardship. Chevron has pledged $10 billion in lower carbon investments and projects by 2028. Other countries cannot say the same. Take the European Union, whose reliance on Russian natural gas was laid bare when war broke out in Ukraine two years ago. Russia happens to have the dirtiest natural gas in the world.
As the Biden Administration creates roadblocks for American exports of natural gas, other countries have no choice but to turn to sources from Russia, Iran, and Qatar. Those who believe foreign energy is cleaner than ours probably also think that the Chinese Communist Party isn’t using TikTok to steal our data.
Finally, there’s the sheer politics. Facing a tough re-election, Biden has cracks in his base that imperil his future. In the 2020 election, 65% of Gen Z voters broke for Biden. Four years later, more than half (58%) aren’t even sure they will vote at all. Axios dubbed the upcoming presidential contest “Groundhog Day for disillusioned young voters.”
Despite the best efforts of the Biden Administration to stifle our domestic energy producers, new data from the Energy Information Administration shows America leading the world in oil production – and it’s not even close.
You’re unlikely to hear anyone in the Biden Administration take a victory lap. Not only did they have nothing to do with it, they were also terrified of further offending their base. This fear is driving campaign propaganda from the White House headlined “The President’s Budget Cuts Wasteful Spending on Big Pharma, Big Oil, and Other Special Interests.”
The billions of dollars in green giveaways, the ceaseless promotion of electric vehicles, the cancellation of federal leasing – none of it is enough. One of the left’s loudest environmental voices, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), deemed Biden’s climate actions “insufficient.”
As the old parable goes, give a mouse a cookie, and they’re going to want a glass of milk. When it comes to extreme environmental voices, reason and common sense long ago left the conversation. Instead of thanking the industries and their leaders that power our country, they accuse them of murder. As galling as it is, perhaps even worse is the unwillingness of those running our country to stand up and fight back.
This article originally appeared at Real Clear Energy