Biden Is A Climate Fraud

Biden Fossil Extraction “Pause” Is Exposed As A Fraud

Oil and Gas Leases On Public Lands & Permits Worse Than Bush

[Updates below]

At the time President Biden issued his Executive Order (see Sect. 208) creating a so called “pause” on approvals of leases for fossil extraction on public lands, we predicted it before he took office and called bullshit on it via numerous twitter posts. While media and green groups were cheerleading, we were truth telling (March 26, 2021 tweet):

The Biden faux “pause” was never a serious effort to actually stop fossil extraction and satisfy the moratorium “keep it in the ground“ demand of the green groups. Just the opposite: it was a symbolic gesture designed to create a false appearance.

The Associated Press is just today reporting on the meaning of Sect. Haaland’s Senate confirmation testimony I criticized at the time, but which got very little if any attention by the media at the time. But instead of citing the Senate confirmation hearing (which they missed at the time), the AP now cites a much later June House Committee hearing where she repeated and revealed the same policy:

Haaland has sought to tamp down Republican concern over potential constraints on the industry. She said during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing last month that there was no “plan right now for a permanent ban.”

“Gas and oil production will continue well into the future and we believe that is the reality of our economy and the world we’re living in,” Haaland told Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn.

But, the Green Groups gave Biden and Haaland a pass and the cheerleading clueless stenographic press favorably reported the Biden “pause” as a significant climate policy.

[Update – here’s what Haaland said in her opening Statement – she made additional concessions in response to questions:

Now, the data is in, and it validates our criticism. Biden is proven a climate fraud.

The Associated Press just reported:

US drilling approvals increase despite Biden climate pledge

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Approvals for companies to drill for oil and gas on U.S. public lands are on pace this year to reach their highest level since George W. Bush was president, underscoring President Joe Biden’s reluctance to more forcefully curb petroleum production in the face of industry and Republican resistance.

The Interior Department approved about 2,500 permits to drill on public and tribal lands in the first six months of the year, according to an Associated Press analysis of government data. That includes more than 2,100 drilling approvals since Biden took office January 20.

New Mexico and Wyoming had the largest number of approvals. Montana, Colorado and Utah had hundreds each.

Did you get that? Let me repeat:

Approvals for companies to drill for oil and gas on U.S. public lands are on pace this year to reach their highest level since George W. Bush was president, underscoring President Joe Biden’s reluctance to more forcefully curb petroleum production in the face of industry and Republican resistance.

And the approvals are not limited to leases, but include permits:

The [Trump] pace dropped when Biden first took office, under a temporary order that elevated permit reviews to senior administration officials. Approvals have since rebounded to a level that exceeds monthly numbers seen through most of Trump’s presidency. …

If the recent trends continue, the Interior Department could issue close to 6,000 permits by the end of the year. The last time so many were issued was fiscal year 2008, amid an oil boom driven by crude prices that reached an all-time high of $140 per barrel that June.

We told you exactly this would happen, back in April 2021, when we predicted:

I’m expecting to see pipelines receive subsidies and “streamlined regulatory review” under Biden’s infrastructure plan. I’ve already read quotes from Sect. Transportation Buttigieg that included pipelines in the definition of infrastructure. And Biden supported the gas industry before the US supreme Court, see:

• Biden PennEast Pipeline Betrayal Tests NJ Gov. Murphy’s Climate Commitments

This is exactly the policy Joe’s mentor, Barak Obama implemented – which we also criticized at the time despite all the environmental group praise. We quoted Obama’s own absurd words, see:

Under my administration, America is producing more oil than at any time in the last eight years. We’ve opened up new areas for exploration. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating rigs to a record high. We’ve added enough new oil and gas pipeline to circle the Earth and then some,” Obama said (source)

Amazingly, we see a repeat of our call out of Obama followed by an Associated Press story that delivers the facts to validate out criticism, see:

• The Other Oil Man in the White House

Five days after I wrote this post – which basically suggested that Obama was worse than oil man Bush – the Associated released this analysis which shows that EPA enforcement under Obama is WEAKER than under Bush:

Oil stats belie tough enforcement talk  –

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the three years since President Barack Obama took office, Republicans have made the Environmental Protection Agency a lightning rod for complaints that his administration has been too tough on oil and gas producers.

But an Associated Press analysis of enforcement data over the past decade finds that’s not the case. In fact, the EPA went after producers more often in the years of Republican President George W. Bush, a former Texas oilman, than under Obama.

Also, the agency’s enforcement actions have declined overall since 2002 and reached their lowest point last year, the review found.

When will all the Big Green groups and even the “radical” folks at Sunrise Movement wake up?

[Update #1 : 8/4/21 – More evidence of the fraud – just as we predicted Sect. Haaland would cave:

• Biden Interior Dept Denounced for Giving Big Oil Green Light to Harass Polar Bears, Walruses ~~~ end update]

[Update #2 : 8/7/21 – Wow. I’ve not been following this debate. Too much for me to write about. Things are far worse than I imagined. Just now reading the Senate “bi-partisan” infrastructure bill backed by Biden. It is a disaster. Climate stuff stripped out, all carrots (incentives) and no sticks (requirements), deregulation, privatization, corporate subsidies, and lots of bad stuff. Here’s just one big problem: it would create a new $3.8 billion carbon capture program. In trying to figure that out, I cam across a letter from climate activists opposing that, but then found that the Big Green groups are not opposing it and other really bad climate stuff. In a June 1 story about the split in the climate community, the Biden folks openly admit that they are Obama “all the the above” 2.0:

“The President is interested in all-of-the-above-strategy,” said White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy earlier this month, at a summit hosted by Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “We’re going to do a lot of things, and invest in a clean energy future, and make sure we have the flexibility to use the technologies that are going to get there.”

Like I said, Biden is a climate fraud.

Even if it comes with the so called Democratic $3.5 trillion version going through the budget reconciliation, the motto should be “kill the bill”.

But I suspect that NO CLIMATE – NO DEAL is just a slogan, but I hope not. ~~~ end update]

[Update #3: 9/1/21: We knew this was coming and instead of cheerleading for Biden, we called it out on day 1 (March 26):

• ‘A Shattered Promise’: Biden Blasted for Resuming Fossil Fuel Leasing on Public Lands and Waters

Advocacy groups on Tuesday blasted the Biden administration for resuming oil and gas lease sales for public lands and waters as the United States faces multiple disasters exacerbated by the fossil fuel driven-climate emergency. ~~~ end update]