Townhall: To Punish Russia, U.S. Must Unleash Energy Dominance Again

The Russian assault on Ukraine confirmed vulnerabilities in safeguarding American energy security. With the U.S. now importing more oil and gas from the rogue nation, it’s time to pursue energy independence again.

Make no mistake: preservationist environmental policies are squarely to blame for our present situation of high gas prices and energy bills. If President Biden is serious about punishing Russia, he wouldn’t just impose harsher sanctions; he’d equally scale back his extreme climate agenda. 

To punish Russia, our nation must unleash energy dominance again. Here’s how.

Revoke Executive Order 13990

To mitigate the damage caused by energy dependence, the Biden administration must repeal Executive Order 13990 that went into effect on January 20th, 2021. 

Billed as “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis,” the directive instructed agencies – including the EPA, Interior, and Energy Departments – to effectively undo four years of good energy policy. CARTOONS | AL GOODWYNVIEW CARTOON

For instance, Section 2 of E.O. 13990 —“Immediate Review of Agency Actions Taken Between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021 — instructed agencies to “immediately review all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions (agency actions) promulgated, issued, or adopted between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021.” 

Section 4 of the directive called for pausing ANWR exploration “relating to the implementation of the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program, as established by the Record of Decision signed August 17, 2020, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.” And Section 6 called for revoking the Keystone XL Pipeline, suggesting it “disserves the U.S. national interest” because of the so-called climate crisis. (Talk about asinine.)