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Every now and then, something happens that both Democrats and Republicans would rather keep quiet. That was the case this week when the Energy Information Administration (EIA) stated that US crude oil production is expected to reach a new record in 2023.
If you are Joe Biden, who claims to be a pro-environment president, that’s not really something you want your voters to know.
In June, Biden said his administration is “taking the most aggressive climate action ever,” adding that part of his strategy is to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels.
It’s hard to see how increasing crude oil production by 850,000 barrels per day to a record high of 12.8 million barrels per day fits into that narrative.
And, according to the EIA, next year, when Biden is expected to run in part on his environmental record, the crude oil output will go above even 13 million barrels per day.
It’s difficult to square that with Biden’s rhetoric on his environmental agenda, which he claims involves weaning the country off fossil fuels and fighting climate change.
But that’s exactly what the president is trying to do this week during a four-day swing to Western states in which he tries to generate excitement for his economic and climate plans and successes.
And during his State of the Union address, Biden railed against the record profits that Big Oil was raking in. However, it seems as though the oil companies stand to make even more money thanks to the record domestic oil production.
Fortunately for the president, it’s not as though Republicans can use any of this against him because the last thing they want their voters to know is that the US is producing more crude oil under Biden’s leadership than at any other time in history.
Instead, they are trying to sell the narrative that the current administration is undermining US energy dependence at a crucial time.
As WhoWhatWhy’s Editor-in-Chief Russ Baker reported, in order to push through their extreme energy agenda that would make any meaningful action on climate change virtually unachievable, right-wing groups and lawmakers need Biden to be a boogeyman and not someone who turns a blind eye while the domestic oil production reaches new heights.
For example, the Heritage Foundation just released its blueprint for what should happen when the GOP takes over the White House again, and it is filled with language about Biden’s war on the oil industry.
The document describes “the Biden Administration’s assault on the energy sector as the Administration uses its regulatory might to make coal, oil, and natural gas operations very expensive and increasingly inaccessible while forcing the economy to build out and rely on unreliable renewables.”
Clearly, if that is your talking point, you don’t want your voters to find out that oil companies have produced an extra 35,000,000 gallons of crude oil every single day this year for a total of about 550,000,000 gallons per day.
And because neither side wants that particular truth come to light, they prefer to keep this dirty secret to themselves.
