Promoting American Energy Production for a Clean Energy Future

During President Biden’s State of the Union address last week, he informed the world of his commitment to combatting climate change and fostering clean energy solutions. His actions, on the other hand, are undermining any positive environmental achievements we have made over the past decade while directly causing an exponential increase in gas prices.

Here are the facts:

• America has the highest environmental standards for energy production in the world and produces energy more efficiently and cleaner than any other country.
• While renewable energy is growing quickly, natural gas is and will remain one of the most-consumed sources of energy in the United States through 2050.
• President Biden stifled domestic energy production and turned to other nations to increase their production – including Venezuela, a corrupt country with one of the worst environmental records.
• Energy costs are now skyrocketing for Americans.
• Global emissions are increasing.

The cause-and-effect seems pretty plain to me, but it must not for our president. Let me spell it out: By effectively shutting down our own supply of critical oil and gas, the Biden Administration increased our reliance on foreign countries for our energy needs, increased global emissions, and increased gas prices for American families.

Climate change is not a local or national issue; it’s a global one. That means we cannot make decisions to address it in a vacuum. As I continue to push in Congress for the U.S. to ban Russian imports of energy, President Biden is asking Venezuela, a U.S. sanctioned country, to increase their oil extraction. This is far more detrimental to our environment than any production we do here in the United States.

So, either President Biden does not care about the environment, or he’s so terrified of the radical environmentalists in his party that he’s unable to make the right decisions. Either way, President Biden’s “solutions” are nothing more than feel-good virtue-signaling that will drastically harm rural communities and threaten American energy security.

Americans across the country are looking at their gas gauges in horror, as prices hit record highs. Farmers across the West are dealing with more drought, higher fuel prices, and increased input costs. It is absolutely mind-boggling that our president continues to ignore the very simple, very clear solution to all of these problems: opening up our own domestic production.

We can solve our climate challenges through science-based solutions without devastating our economy, by diversifying our energy portfolio, and investing in ways to improve our energy industry. In Central Washington, we explore all kinds of energy, from hydropower and nuclear, to solar and wind, and we are constantly innovating.

Only when the federal government gets out of the way of Americans can we promote prosperity and achieve our goal of creating and protecting a healthy environment. President Biden must reverse his anti-energy, anti-climate, and anti-American policies immediately. And if he wants to learn the right way to approach energy production, I welcome President Biden to come see the all-of-the-above clean energy, research, and conservation efforts firsthand in Central Washington anytime.