Biden caves in to oil and gas industry

No sooner had President Joe Biden’s carbon dioxide emitting Air Force One landed from Glasgow, Scotland’s COP26 climate conference than he committed to plans for the largest oil and gas drilling lease sale ever on public lands (700,000 acres) and offshore (80 million acres). Not even the Donald Trump administration ever conducted an auction this big.

Biden was full of bold proclamations about America’s plans to cut fossil fuel production at the COP26 summit. During last year’s campaign, Biden was the forthright climate champion calling climate change “the No. 1 issue facing humanity.”

This is a classic example of a career politician talking out of both sides of his mouth. Now that he’s president with his ear firmly planted on the ground, he’s noticing the No.1 issue with the voters is ballooning gas prices and that’s partially responsible for his plummeting job approval ratings.

Biden doesn’t have the courage to say gas prices aren’t high enough. The totals on the pump should be so steep consumers will have no choice but to walk, bike, take public transportation, or buy an EV. Instead of increasing the supply of petrol, we should be increasing the federal gas tax and keep in mind gasoline in Europe is still a full dollar per gallon higher than it is here.

Enemies of the climate come in all stripes. Our Democratic governor refuses to make the rules regarding oil and gas drilling enforceable.

The lease sale isn’t set yet, so it’s not too late to let the Biden administration know this is not what we had in mind when we voted him to be the vanguard of the climate change movement. Contact them at president@whitehouse.gov or comments@whitehouse.gov.

Fred Malo Jr.

Carbondale