The repeated chants of “drill, baby, drill,” calls for a return to U.S. energy independence, and sporadic references to the “climate hoax,” at the recent Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, served notice that Republicans remember what lower fuel prices were like and how they resulted in a growing economy, with good paying jobs, and lower costs for everything else, including food, because energy costs impact everything.
Indeed, a recent Rasmussen survey of likely voters nationwide found that more people support expanding oil and gas production in the country than believe that the Earth is suffering from dangerous climate change, and few people are willing to pay very much to fight climate change.
And it’s not just Republicans that long for more domestic oil and gas production. Despite soon to be ex-President Biden repeatedly claiming that climate change is the only existential threat facing humanity, the Rasmussen poll found that more Democrats favor increased domestic oil and gas production than oppose it. Republicans and Independents favor more drilling by an even wider margin.
The fact that a large plurality of Democrats supports increased oil and gas production is especially interesting since, according to the same survey, 75 percent of them believe “the [E]arth is experiencing a dangerous level of climate change,” with more than half attributing the dangerous climate primarily to human actions.
If climate change is such an important crisis, one must wonder why so many Democrats support increased oil and gas production, which Biden, Harris, and company blame for climate change.
Perhaps they recognize as Republicans and a large number of Independents do too, that the Biden-Harris administration’s climate efforts have not just resulted in higher prices rippling throughout the economy, but also has resulted in leaving the country economically and geopolitically vulnerable to our competitors and enemies. Or perhaps, like most normal people, they are simply worried about bottom line pocket book issues.
From day one, the Biden-Harris administration’s energy policies have undermined America’s position of energy dominance, resulting in less oil and gas in our various strategic reserves, less production on public lands, blocked pipelines and leases, and leaving America beholden to and begging hostile foreign regimes to provide us with energy we could produce at home – all factors which also harm our allies in Europe who have become increasingly dependent on the United States for critical fuel.
The higher costs resulting from the Biden-Harris energy policies, polices presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris supported and seemingly continues to support, do not respect political affiliation: rather they hurt Democrats, Independents, and Republicans alike.
How much has the Biden-Harris administration’s energy policies directly added to U.S. household’s energy bills? The Heartland Institute has an answer, provided in, “Biden’s Energy Policies Directly Cost U.S. Households More Than $2,548 Since 2021.” Although it is true that the rate of rise in energy prices have fallen over the past year, they are still going upwards and are much higher across the board than they were under former President Donald Trump. Indeed, under Trump, oil and gasoline prices fell from Obama-Biden administration levels, and electric power prices were rising at a much slower annual rate than they are now (and the electric power supply was much more reliable with fewer blackouts and brownouts).
How much has the Biden-Harris energy levy on U.S. households amounted to? Over the past three years: residential electricity prices have increased 23 percent; home heating oil prices have increased 69 percent; oil prices have increased 52 percent; natural gas prices have increased 32 percent; and gasoline has increased $0.97 per gallon, or 42 percent. The result? After three years of Biden’s energy policies, the average U.S. driver has spent at least an extra $548 per year in higher gasoline costs, and the average household has expended $318 in higher electricity costs. In sum, since Biden-Harris began imposing energy policies through regulations and bans, skipping legislative action, the average American household directly paid at least $2,548 in higher direct energy costs, from January 2021 through December 2023. In fact, the actual added cost of energy has been even greater because prices have continued to rise in the seven months since then. Also, that doesn’t count the trillions of tax dollars and deficit spending on green energy boondoggles that reward politically connected green energy profiteers.
Also, because energy is a factor in all goods and services, higher energy prices contributed to the rising prices seen in virtually all goods and services, especially food prices, while spurring inflation.
This isn’t a partisan issue. America can’t afford another four more years of the radical left’s energy policies, which leave people with less money in their pockets, and the country vulnerable to the whims of foreign powers.
H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., ([email protected]) is the Director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at The Heartland Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit research organization based in Arlington Heights, Illinois.
