The GOP’s nonsense talk about the fossil fuel fiasco and the Keystone XL Pipeline and blaming Joe Biden for this matter are doing so for partisan political gain and the outcome for the nation be damned.
Republicans and the right-wing media have been pounding the pavement about Biden being “at war with fossil fuel” and feeding their gullible voters to believe that it is Biden’s fault for the price rise of gasoline. Far from it.
Republicans have attacked Biden for shutting down the Keystone Xl Pipeline, which never carried oil, only dirty tar sands oil and also contained diluted bitumen (which is composed of tar sands oils) and differs from other types of oil, traveled through the pipeline, making it more susceptible to hazardous leaks. Point in fact: In 2017, 210,000 gallons of oil leaked from the pipeline in South Dakota, good reasons to shut down a hazardous albatross.
In Biden’s first year in office he produced 34% more oil and gas than Donald Trump, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and if production gets back to normal the U.S. Energy Information Administration says the oil output will reach a record high in 2023.
Oil prices were already rising before Russia’s war with Ukraine, because Saudi Arabia and Russia were producing less fuel than they promised.
And to add “dirty sand oil” to the problem, there are about 1,000 oil wells in the U.S. that have been drilled but not producing for the purpose of oil companies to manipulate the price of gasoline.
The oil companies’ motto: “The almighty dollar” and shareholders first. These oil companies make billions of dollars even when gasoline is at a reasonable price. America, take out your frustration on the people who are gouging you at the gas pump.
Lois Eisenberg
Santa Clarita
