Patricia Suzanne | Fossil Fuels Are Essential, and Political

SCV Voices: Guest Commentary
SCV Voices: Guest Commentary
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Joe Biden’s State of Union address on March 1 was rife with falsehoods. One of my favorites was his claim that buying American products is a priority for his administration. He conveniently ignored the fact that the White House bought at least $1.3 billion worth of COVID-19 rapid tests from China to disseminate to Americans.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina, who attended a Biden speech to Congress last April, was required to wear a KN95 mask. On Twitter, he posted a picture of the mask handed to him at the door, marked, “Made in China.”

Beyond the obvious COVID examples is the larger issue of energy. In his address to the nation, Biden didn’t mention how his minions have been begging other countries to produce more oil and sell it to us. According to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers trade association, in 2021 the U.S. imported an average of 209,000 barrels of crude oil and 500,000 barrels of other petroleum products from Russia – every DAY.

Also on March 1, the 31-member countries of the International Energy Agency agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves, “to send a strong message to oil markets” that supplies won’t fall short due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was there to commit the United States to half of that “release” amount. Strong message? In this country we consume 20 million barrels a DAY just to keep our economy running.

Since when are strategic reserves for global PR messaging? They are to be held for times when our normal channels are in trouble, like a hurricane in the Gulf or hacked systems. You want to ease supplies here or around the world, Joe? Try reviving the Keystone XL pipeline and lifting your bans on American drilling.

Sadly, Biden is beholden to “The Squad” and their shrill cries for the Green New Deal. And as we approach Earth Day (April 22), the climate alarmists continue their fear crusade.

According to www.earthday.org, the planet is experiencing more extreme weather, like droughts, heat waves and hurricanes, and global sea levels are rising at an alarmingly fast rate.

“All of these are problems associated with climate change,” they claim. “Associated with.” On this website you’ll read, “a majority of scientists agree that many of these effects are caused by human contribution…”

In other words, you and I are to blame, and we should change our evil ways. While there’s no doubt that humans can do a better job reducing waste and cleaning up after themselves, it’s time to stop blaming humanity for everything that’s wrong with the weather.

The basis of climate change projections is computer modeling. Remember the flawed computer models behind the alarm-ism of Al Gore? Ah, yes, the infamous “hockey stick” graph. In the late 2000s, Gore continually suggested that Arctic sea ice could be completely gone by 2014. His doomsday proclamations of rising tides and polar bear deaths frightened school children for years. At the same time, Gore purchased an $8.9 million villa along the California coast and crisscrossed the planet in private jets.

End-of-the-world assertions now come from new virtue signaling prognosticators, such as Greta “You’ve Stolen My Childhood” Thunberg, who herself flits around in private jets. Science these days seems to be linked inexorably to celebrity, false imagery, emotional sound bites and social media popularity.

Climate alarmists have led Americans to believe that not only is the planet warming catastrophically because of human behaviors, but also that artificial intelligence can be used to project the climate many decades into the future.

Natural fluctuations in the height and coverage of clouds also have huge impact on sunlight and heat. But can a computer accurately make assumptions about global cloud coverage decades from now? Can it guess solar flares or earthly volcanic eruptions? Assumptions are a pretty shaky foundation on which to rebuild the world economy.

Environmental grievance hustlers insist that humans can improve the climate, primarily by eliminating fossil fuels. They tweet this from their private jets heading to climate conferences. Of course, we all know those jets are powered and lubricated by fossil fuels. Let me know when a solar-powered commercial aircraft takes to the skies.

More than 80% of the world’s energy comes from fossil fuels. Transitioning everything to solar, wind and hydrogen isn’t feasible in the short term, although it may be worthy of private investment. Perhaps our future holds the possibility of power from ocean waves or harnessing electrical storms. All “clean” sources of energy should be under study.

But modern societies are a long way from giving up oil, gas and coal. We depend on this energy to move goods, heat and power our homes, businesses, schools and hospitals. Not to mention that 96% of products we use daily rely on petroleum for their components.

Energy is political, no doubt about it. There is evidence that Russia funded “green” activists in Europe, who encouraged government officials to shut down their own search for and production of fossil fuel. The result? Germany now gets half its natural gas from Russia. For Finland, that number is 94%, Bulgaria is 77%, Italy 46%.

Is there a possibility that Russia has helped fund green activism here in the U.S.? I’ll leave you to do your own research.

Patricia Suzanne is a professional writer, retired small business owner, and conservative Republican activist. She is determined to Make California Golden Again by waking up one voter at a time to embrace conservative values and pressure legislators to restore Constitutional freedoms. “Right Here, Right Now” appears Saturdays and rotates among local Republicans.

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