And, what was the President’s response to these energy price spikes crushing American families? He passed the buck, directed the Federal Trade Commission to investigate and placed blame on oil and gas companies. Despite the President’s effort to shift the blame away from himself, the reason for these out-of-control prices is quite clearly a year spent undermining our economy and American energy.

We’re going to give him an “F” here, but truly, he deserves an incomplete since he didn’t do most of the homework and skipped all the tests.

Clean Energy for Our Environment – Grade: F

We could once again easily (and fairly) mention Climate Czar John Kerry’s hypocritical private jet-setting here. But, let’s keep looking at policies. For years, the U.S. has been enjoying its best air quality in generations—emissions are down and we have cut some of the most dangerous pollutants exponentially. And, those environmental accomplishments are BECAUSE of the increased use of natural gas to produce our nation’s electricity.

Despite that, throughout this year we’ve repeatedly heard the same old doomsday rhetoric and scare tactics to drum up support for questionable policies like President Biden’s Methane Tax. Additional taxes and fees certainly won’t help the President’s grade on affordability, but it’s also going to earn him a failing grade on the environment. Taxes like these intentionally punish and discourage the production of natural gas which is America’s most reliable, abundant and clean fuel source. Picking winners and losers for political gain not only harms consumers, it also harms the Earth in the long run.

Abundant Energy for Our Future – Grade: F

As we just said, America is blessed with an abundance of natural resources that provide us with energy and support our way of life. But, at every turn, the Biden Administration has propped up extreme “keep it in the ground”-type policies to keep those resources from getting to the American families and businesses that need them most.

Early in the year President Biden canceled the permits for the Keystone XL pipeline cutting off a potentially valuable supply of critical natural resources. President Biden also issued an executive order to “pause new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or in offshore waters.” Thankfully, that order was overturned by a federal court during a lawsuit which included over a dozen states. But the onslaught on domestic energy continued as the Administration called for rate hikes for producers on federal lands.

This country was built on our ability to work hard and maximize the resources available to us to improve our way of life. Biden gets another “F” for trying to disconnect American ingenuity from our energy birthright.

Domestic Energy for Our Security Grade: F (with extra points lost for encouraging foreign bullies)

As recently as 2019, the United States achieved net exporter status, and we maintained that elite status at the beginning of 2021. That fact helped keep energy affordable and available to American families, but it also kept us safe and secure.

That’s why it was truly mind-blowing when the Administration and democratic leaders were apparently considering banning exports of crude oil and liquid natural gas. A chorus of opposition seemed to get the message across on that one. But, President Biden also turned to OPEC+ for help in the face of spiking gas prices. When OPEC+ (predictably) declined to increase production, Energy Secretary Granholm laughed in response to being asked what her plan was to increase domestic oil production.

The Administration also dealt their own green-at-any-cost agenda a serious blow by ordering a burdensome environmental review that could restrict access to domestic rare earth minerals critical for components in solar panels and electric vehicles. Most of those minerals now come from China and other questionable foreign governments, and the global environment will be worse off if we continue to restrict domestic production. So, here again, the President gets a failing grade and maybe needs to find some new friends who don’t think our safety and energy independence are a laughing matter.