Sometimes you have to wonder whose team President Joe Biden is playing on.
Nearly every decision he has made since taking office in January has been to weaken the United States.
What’s shaping up to be the latest example is the Biden administration considering shutting down a vital pipeline that transports 540,000 barrels of oil per day into the U.S. from western Canada.
White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed the reports are true, saying the Army Corps of Engineers is doing an environmental impact study on the Line 5 pipeline that runs through Michigan.
Biden spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledges the Biden administration is “studying” shutting down the Line 5 Pipeline.
If Biden shuts down Line 5, Millions of Americans could face higher energy bills this winter. pic.twitter.com/7ZJoDIBd0S
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 8, 2021
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Of course, this brilliant move comes after Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, which was slated to transport over 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada to refineries in Texas.
Oh, and he halted oil exploration on federal lands just as the U.S. had reached energy independence during the Trump years, and he closed down drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska too.
The United States is producing nearly 2 million barrels of oil a day less under Biden than it was at its peak under former President Donald Trump, during whose administration the nation became a net energy exporter for the first time in nearly 70 years.
One barrel of oil refines to about 20 gallons of gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Predictably, with less supply and rising demand, gas prices have risen by an average of over $1.30 per gallon nationwide.
A year ago we were energy independent, a net exporter, and a gallon of gas was 2 bucks and change. After less than a year of a war on fuel producers here and giveaways to Russia, all those gains are reversed. The surprise is how quickly everything changed. https://t.co/JD3dF4mBjg
— David Asman (@DavidAsmanfox) October 12, 2021
Perhaps, one could argue that Biden and his team have calculated if they make it painful enough at the pump, they will speed along the day when the U.S. transitions completely away from fossil fuels to wind and solar and, who knows, unicorn travel.
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Well, that sounds nice, but it’s contradicted by the fact that imports of Russian and Saudi Arabian oil are up. So we’re burning oil, just less of our own.
The EIA reported that the U.S. imported 24.6 million barrels in August from Russia on top of over 26 million in May. That’s nearly 5 million more barrels per month than the highest number ever recorded under Trump.
During the previous administration, the amount imported consistently ranged between 11 million and 16 million barrels per month.
Under Biden, the total has been over 20 million barrels every month, with the exception of February.
In August, Bloomberg reported that Russia had become America’s No. 2 foreign oil supplier, edging out Mexico.
Because the Biden admin would rather import more Russian and Saudi oil than Canadian…brilliant. https://t.co/Rzbfr9cR6A
— Randy DeSoto (@RandyDeSoto) November 8, 2021
Meanwhile, oil imports from Canada have stayed roughly the same between Biden’s and Trump’s presidencies.
So why are we favoring Russia over Canada?
That wasn’t the only pro-Russia move Biden has made.
In May, the president announced no sanctions would be imposed to block the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as Trump had threatened to do. The pipeline will transport natural gas from Russia into Western Europe.
To summarize, Biden — citing climate change concerns — shut down the Keystone XL pipeline, killing American jobs, and greenlit Nord Stream 2, which benefits Russia economically and gives Russian President Vladimir Putin a leverage point over NATO allies like Germany.
And now the administration is considering shutting down another U.S.-Canada pipeline, which is almost certain to drive up prices even more.
Again, whose team is Biden on?
For all the hooting and hollering by the Democrats about Trump and “Russia, Russia, Russia,” it sure feels like Biden’s the one Putin has in his back pocket.