Why no president has slowed the U.S. oil boom

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Why no president has slowed the U.S. oil boom
Under President Joe Biden, who campaigned on a pledge of “no more drilling,” America is pumping more oil than any country ever has


Some pumpjacks operate while others stand idle in the Belridge oil field near McKittrick, Calif., in November 2021. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

.By Maxine Joselow
August 16, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

As he campaigned for president in 2020, Joe Biden made a bold promise at a New Hampshire town hall, adding repetition for emphasis: “No more drilling on federal lands. Period. Period. Period. Period.” ... Four years later, it appears that Biden may have overpromised.

The Biden administration has now outpaced the Trump administration in approving permits for drilling on public lands, and the United States is producing more oil than any country ever has. The unplanned fossil fuel boom reflects an uncomfortable truth for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris: It is difficult for any president to stop the spigot of U.S. oil production, a leading driver of both the economy and climate change.

“If you were to show someone who came from Mars the line of U.S. oil and gas production over the last 15 years, they probably would not be able to tell whether a Republican or Democrat was in the White House,” said Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

Oil drilling continues to be a core issue in Donald Trump’s quest to retake the White House. Trump and his supporters argue that Biden and Harris have waged “a war on energy.” The former president has pledged to “drill, baby, drill” and to restore America’s “energy dominance.” ... The reality is the United States is already dominant. The country is expected to produce 13.2 million barrels of oil per day on average this year — millions of barrels more than Saudi Arabia or Russia.

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By Maxine Joselow
Maxine Joselow is a staff writer who covers climate change and the environment. Twitter

[MrWowWow]

1. We Must Quit This Path of Quiet Desperation!

Jane Fonda on the Climate Voters for Harris-Walz Zoom call just said:

Transitioning off fossil fuels will cost the U.S. USD$38T by 2050.
.

My Opinion:
It certainly would have been much much less had we started from the very first Earth Day! Extinction is forever. Better late than never!

ChatGPT:
The cost of transitioning the U.S. off fossil fuels by 2050 is highly debated and depends on several factors, including the pace of the transition, technological advancements, and policy choices. Estimates vary widely:

1. **Princeton University Study (2020)**: Estimates the cost of transitioning the U.S. energy system to net-zero emissions by 2050 at about $9.4 trillion. This includes investments in renewable energy, infrastructure, and technology.

2. **McKinsey & Company Report (2021)**: Estimates a $4.5 trillion investment is needed by 2030 for the U.S. to be on track to reach net-zero by 2050. This includes spending on clean energy, grid infrastructure, and energy efficiency.

3. **Goldman Sachs (2020)**: Estimates that decarbonizing the U.S. economy could require around $16 trillion by 2050, considering investments in renewable energy, electric vehicles, and related infrastructure.

4. **The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)**: Suggests that the costs could be lower if technological advancements continue to drive down the price of renewable energy and storage solutions.

It's important to note that these costs are offset by potential savings from reduced healthcare costs due to improved air quality, job creation in renewable energy sectors, and the avoidance of costs associated with climate change impacts.

[hunter]

2. We need to quit lying to ourselves. The "energy transition" isn't real.

When this "energy transition" is promoted by fossil fuel companies and institutions supported by fossil fuel companies it's absolutely fraudulent.

Sure, we can replace coal power plants with hybrid natural gas / solar / wind systems, and we can replace gasoline and diesel powered vehicles with electrics, but then what? Fossil fuels are still an essential component of such an economy. As more and more people throughout the world achieve some sort of affluence the demand for fossil fuels only increases.

We humans have become dependent on high density energy resources and historically that's been fossil fuels.

Like it or not, the only energy resource capable of displacing fossil fuels entirely is nuclear power.

If we truly want to quit fossil fuels we need to start building nuclear power plants assembly line fashion and we need to start banning the use of fossil fuels for certain uses as these new nuclear power plants come online.

We also ought to be reducing the number of automobiles. This planet cannot support a personal automobile for every adult human, no matter what those automobiles are powered by. We need to be rebuilding our cities, turning them into affordable attractive places where automobile ownership is unnecessary.

Both these ideas are a tough sell, even here on Democratic Underground.

[Caribbeans]

3. .

[jfz9580m]

4. K&R.nt