President Earns “F“ For First 100 Days

WASHINGTON – On the eve of President Biden’s first 100 days in office, the Empowerment Alliance (TEA) today released its report card for the administration’s energy policies. Just about everybody is assessing the impact of his policies and what they mean for the American people. At TEA, the focus is on energy, and we believe the way the United States of America harnesses its energy resources to the betterment of its citizens is a key priority for any President.

TEA has graded the actions and statements of President Biden on energy and climate based on four criteria comprising TEA’s Four Pillars of its Declaration of Energy Independence.

Unfortunately, our nation’s energy and climate picture couldn’t be cloudier after Biden’s first 100 days in office.  The new Administration’s policy decisions and public statements take a decidedly anti-energy turn. Instead of unleashing the potential of our domestic energy industry, the Biden Administration walled it off and locked it down.

A closer look:

Pillar 1: Affordable Energy for Our Families – Grade: F

On his first day in office, Joe Biden revoked the Keystone XL Pipeline permit. This carbon neutral project planned to carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to Texas. The project would have created tens of thousands of jobs and billions in earnings. By cancelling the pipeline, Biden derailed cheaper energy, killed more jobs, and ended a cleaner alternative to what will happen now: All that oil will be moved by train and trucks – a more expensive, more environmentally harmful way to go.

Pillar 2: Clean Energy for Our Environment – Grade: F

This should have been the easy one for Biden. With the president’s rhetoric on the environment, you would expect policies proposed to meet the challenge. Killing the Keystone XL Pipeline actually increased the carbon footprint of the gas and oil moving through the system. Special Climate Envoy, John Kerry, flies private, saying, it is “the only choice for somebody like me.” Especially interesting that Kerry said this after flying to Iceland to receive a climate award.

If you could give a grade of less than “F”, the Biden Administration would qualify for it. Their war on energy, particularly natural gas, undermines the cleanest most abundant fuel available to power the electrical grid. For now and the foreseeable future, the United States will continue to rely on gas as a base fuel. Any effort to restrict or undermine that should be measured with a critical eye and given a failing grade.

Pillar 3: Abundant Energy for Our Future Grade: F

America has a nearly 100-year supply of natural gas. This is a vast resource that could virtually guarantee prosperity, but several recent actions by the Biden Administration make it clear that they would rather lock that resource underground and unused.

The Biden campaign repeatedly and publicly professed that they would not ban fracking. But in February when a regional commission voted to ban fracking in their region of the Marcellus Shale field, Biden’s US Army Corp of Engineers abstained from voting, allowing the ban to stand.

It does not end there. Energy companies routinely lease land from the US Government to explore for oil and gas. These leases allow the companies to find and produce more energy, but also funded hundreds of local programs that benefit the communities in which they reside, a good deal for everybody. Freezing those leases is a slap in the face to America’s abundance.

Pillar 4: Domestic Energy for Our Security Grade: F

America’s vast energy resources as well as our vibrant economy power a global engine. By protecting our resources and using them as leverage, our country can retain our world energy leadership. But the Biden Administration is attempting to choke that engine and put us at the mercy of our competitors.  By reentering the Paris Accord Agreement, they may have scored points with our European allies, but our adversaries in China and Russia are having a field day. They are enjoying unilateral disarmament by America, where we have again signed up for more than a hundred new regulations hobbling our competitiveness worldwide. Analysis shows it could cost 1.1 million jobs by 2025 and 6.5 million by 2040.

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