A former Keystone XL pipeline worker claims that the energy industry “tried to warn” President Biden against policies hindering US oil and gas production.
It’s those policies he said, that have caused the country’s growing energy crisis.
Neal Crabtree told Fox News. “We tried to warn this administration back when they canceled the Keystone Pipeline” that it was also “canceling national security, foreign policy and energy,” he dded “They all kinda go hand-in-hand.”
The White House is pretending that Putin is to blame for the crisis, ignoring the fact that energy prices started soaring as soon as Biden took office and declared war on the US fossil-fuel industry.
Fox News reports: The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. hit a record high this week, as oil neared $130 per barrel. Biden announced Tuesday that he was banning Russian oil and gas imports, which he said targets the “main artery of Russia’s economy.”
Biden said the decision will further increase already-high domestic gas prices and warned fuel companies that it is “no time for profiteering or price gouging.” He blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for rising gas prices in the U.S.
“Since Putin began his military buildup on Ukrainian borders – just since then – the price of gas at pumps in America went up 75 cents,” he said. “And with this action it’s going to go up further.”
But Crabtree said rising gas prices go beyond Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Even if we can fix the Ukrainian problem, the prices are still going up,” he said. Biden’s “policies have everything to do with the rising fuel prices in this country today.
“It has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine,” Crabtree continued.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration isn’t against increasing domestic production and instead blamed oil companies.
“Federal policies are not limiting the supplies of oil and gas,” Psaki said Monday.
“There are 9,000 approved drilling permits that are not being used, so the suggestion that we are not allowing companies to drill is inaccurate,” she continued. “I would suggest you ask the oil companies why they’re not using those if there’s a desire to drill more.”
In response, Crabtree told Fox News: “There’s no energy company [that’s] gonna spend the money to develop a new lease if they can’t build a pipeline to move the project.”
Biden canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline his first day in office.
Biden administration officials discussed “energy security” in Venezuela, and the president is considering a trip to Saudi Arabia. Psaki also didn’t rule out importing Iranian oil if a nuclear deal is renewed.
“When I’d first seen the reports of the president going to places like Iran and Venezuela to ask for more oil output, I said ‘this is fake news, he hasn’t gone this far off the rocker,’” Crabtree told Fox News. “But I guess that’s the path they want to take.”
“Why not invite North Korea?” he continued. “Maybe they’ve got a few barrels of oil that they can spare?”