Biden Responds to Skyrocketing Gas Prices by Thinking About Shutting Down Another American Pipeline
If last week’s election was any indication of how the 2022 midterms will go for Democrats, chances are the party will lose control of one or both chambers of Congress.
Rather than moderating, as even the New York Times editorial board advised last week, they’ve chosen to accept their fate and use their remaining time to ram as much of their socialist agenda items through as possible.
On Wednesday, Politico reported that the Biden administration is considering shutting down the Line 5 pipeline in Michigan that pumps 540,000 barrels of oil and other petroleum products per day through the Straits of Mackinac in the Great Lakes.
NEW: The Biden administration is gathering data on whether shutting down the Line 5 oil pipeline in Michigan would lead to fuel price shocks in the region, according to people familiar with the administration effort. w/@ziannlum
— Ben Lefebvre (@bjlefebvre) November 3, 2021
The Canadian govt is forcing the administration to get involved in the legal battle it’s having with Michigan over the controversial cross-border pipeline.
The pipeline crosses through the Straits of Mackinac, where a spill would be a catastrophe for the Great Lakes.— Ben Lefebvre (@bjlefebvre) November 4, 2021
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has been trying for over a year to shut down this pipeline. In May, she published an op-ed in The Washington Post. She wrote, “[F]or nearly 70 years, an oil company has pumped crude oil through the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron connect and where Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas come closest.”
“The two aging, 4.5-mile sections of underwater pipeline are a ticking time bomb.”
The governor noted she’d filed a lawsuit against the company, Enbridge, last November, and the company was advised that “the state of Michigan was revoking and terminating the 1953 easement for Enbridge’s dual pipelines in the Straits. The notice gave Enbridge 180 days … to cease pumping oil through the Great Lakes.”
She wrote that Enbridge had defied the order and continued to operate. Whitmer added she “would make every effort to disgorge the company of all profits unjustly earned from Line 5 while trespassing on state land. Enbridge says it will continue pumping until a court orders it to stop.”
Additionally, Politico reported Sunday that environmental groups and 12 indigenous tribes are pressuring President Joe Biden to shutter the pipeline.
Their concerns about a potential oil spill in the Great Lakes may be warranted, and perhaps it is time to build a new pipeline to replace the old, vulnerable one.
The point is that there are alternatives, and the abrupt shutdown of the Line 5 pipeline is the least desirable option.
Just days ago, this administration was begging OPEC to increase the production of oil. Now it’s considering decreasing U.S. production even further at a time when prices have already skyrocketed and the winter heating season is upon us.
The White House is fully aware that carbon emission in Russia or the Middle East has the same effect on the planet as an emission in the U.S. But importing oil from the tyrants who hate us will push up U.S. prices to what they hope will be a prohibitive level.
Gas prices have soared over the past year. According to the American Automobile Association, the average price for a gallon of regular gas in America was $2.11 on Nov. 8, 2020. On Monday, a year later, the average price was $3.42.
On Oct. 13, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Americans would be spending up to 54 percent more to heat their homes this winter.
The significance of increases in the price of oil cannot be overstated. The Biden administration declared war on the fossil fuel industry on day one, and its deliberate efforts to sabotage this sector have reduced supply and driven prices to their current levels.
Did none of these people take Econ 101?
When you dramatically reduce supply (killing Keystone, canceling leases on federal lands, increasing regs) . . . price goes UP. https://t.co/betQmtpXBi
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 8, 2021
On Thursday, 13 Republican members of Congress, including Reps. Tim Walberg and Jack Bergman of Michigan and Bob Latta of Ohio, penned a letter to Biden calling on him to keep the pipeline open.
“Line 5 is essential to the lifeblood of the Midwest. Should this pipeline be shut down, tens of thousands of jobs would be lost across Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the region; billions of dollars in economic activity would be in jeopardy; and the environment would be at greater risk due to additional trucks operating on roadways and railroads carrying hazardous materials,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Furthermore, as we enter the winter months and temperatures drop across the Midwest, the termination of Line 5 will undoubtedly further exacerbate shortages and price increases in home heating fuels like natural gas and propane at a time when Americans are already facing rapidly rising energy prices, steep home heating costs, global supply shortages, and skyrocketing gas prices.”
The lofty prices Americans are paying at the pump didn’t happen by accident; they have been part of the progressive plan for years. Simply put, Democrats are convinced that if they can drive up the prices of fossil fuels to exorbitant levels, consumers will seek alternatives like green energy.
Biden administration officials no longer even try to hide their motives — and that might be the scariest thing of all.
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