DV Journal

Joe Biden kicked off his presidency on January 20, 2021, by killing the Keystone XL pipeline. For the newly-elected Democrat, it was a message affirming his commitment to green energy policies.

For the energy industry, America’s allies abroad, and skilled workers at home, however, the impacts of Biden’s actions were far more concrete.

“Killing 10,000 jobs and taking $2.2 billion in payroll out of workers’ pockets is not what Americans need or want right now,” Andy Black, President and CEO of the Association of Oil Pipelines, said at the time.

The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) called Biden’s decision “both insulting and disappointing to the thousands of hard-working members who will lose good-paying, middle-class family-supporting jobs.

“By blocking this 100 percent union project, and pandering to environmental extremists, a thousand union jobs will immediately vanish and 10,000 additional jobs will be foregone,” the group added.

That was a year ago. How does the decision to end the Keystone pipeline look today?

First, there are the immediate economic impacts. Six months after Biden’s decision, TC Energy pulled the plug on the pipeline, which would have shipped 500,000 barrels a day from Western Canada into the U.S. refining system. Given America’s annual production of 16.5 million barrels a day in 2020, that was not a major loss at the time.

But today, domestic energy supplies are strained and global demand is soaring. U.S. allies in Europe are struggling to meet demand in the winter of 2022. Circumstances are very different from the day Biden blocked Keystone.

“Biden’s hurt us,” says H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., Senior Fellow on Environmental Policy for the Illinois-based Heartland Institute. “There’s no question about that.”

Neal Crabtree, a welding foreman from Fouke, Ark., lost his job when Biden pulled the pipeline’s permit. But he says he has bigger concerns than his own paycheck.

“I was worried by the tone being set by the Biden administration,” Crabtree said. “A direct attack on energy in this country seemed to be the president’s highest priority.

“Now we’re seeing rising energy prices. Private companies are reluctant to develop new pipelines because of the outrageous permitting process. Pipelines, just like roads and bridges in this country, are aging. To neglect our pipelines is a dangerous thing. We saw how dependent we are on them when the Colonial Pipeline was shut down last year.”

Dan Kish, Distinguished Senior Fellow for the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Energy Research, agrees. “We saw it as a body blow to American energy security,” he said.

And, some energy experts say, it is not just that Biden blocked a pipeline. He blocked Keystone, a project that went over and above to address issues like carbon emissions, safety standards, and cooperation with indigenous people impacted by the pipeline.

“When Biden shut down Keystone, which really was bending over backward to do everything right from the Democrats’ perspective — and Biden still killed it — that sent a message to the entire industry that it didn’t matter what you did, this administration wanted to shut you down,” said Dan K. Eberhart, CEO of Canary, one of the largest oilfield service companies in the country.

TC Energy had pledged to operate Keystone as a “net-zero emissions level,” the first of its kind commitment in the industry. And operating in Canada meant working under some of the most stringent environmental and safety regulations in the world.

The pipeline managers also had reached agreements with Native Americans as well, entering a $1 billion equity agreement with a group of five Alberta and Saskatchewan First Nations.

“I would say ‘President Biden, I do believe you made a bad decision putting Keystone on the backburner,’” said Saskatchewan First Nation Chief Alvin Francis just days after Biden’s decision. “This could change the outlook of all First Nations in Canada and the US.”

It has certainly changed the mood between Ontario and Washington, D.C. Keystone was in many ways primarily a Canadian project. Biden’s reversal on the pipeline, as well as proposed subsidies for U.S.- made electric vehicles, has heightened tensions between the two allies.

Closing Keystone has not strengthened America’s hand with its potential enemies, either. Biden has been left in the awkward position of lobbying Congress to keep the Nord Stream 2 pipeline open, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin continues threatening a possible invasion of Ukraine. And less oil from Canada and the U.S. on the global market means more demand for products from Russia, Libya, and Venezuela.

“This was a missed opportunity to increase North American energy security, lower costs for American consumers, and reduce dependence on foreign energy sources that are hostile to U.S. interests,” says Frank Macchiarola, Senior Vice President of Policy, Economics and Regulatory Affairs at American Petroleum Institute (API)

If Biden’s goal was to keep the oil in the ground, it didn’t work. Canadian oil production remained strong throughout 2021 and is expected to hit a new record in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.

Is it possible Biden would reconsider Keystone XL, having just recently reached out to OPEC to increase production and help bring down gas prices? Burnett says that is unlikely.

“Biden is imposing methane regulations on the industry that the Trump administration decided were not necessary for public health and safety. Biden has agreed to block new natural gas pipelines and new natural gas power stations, so he’s helping create energy shortages in the U.S. and approving pipelines from Russia as opposed to shipping our gas,” Burnett said.

“Biden’s view seems to be ‘Energy is good for the world, but not for the United States,’” he added.

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The first year of the Joe Biden administration is drawing to a close. What happened in the last 12 months in American politics and policy?

Biden was elected promising to end COVID and unite the country. That didn’t happen.

Now in response to the Omicron variant, Biden and Democrat governors are shutting down schools and businesses once again.

Government spending soared, inflation went up and Biden’s popularity went down.

Pipelines were killed and the cost of energy jumped 33 percent.

Biden turned his back on American farmers who need America to establish a trade agreement with Britain now freed from the European Union, and Taiwan and all our Asian allies concerned about China. And our most innovative industries have watched Biden allow other nations to steal our intellectual property and attack our most successful businesses with targeted taxes and regulations.

Biden stopped the final construction of the wall at America’s southern border, left the gates open and hundreds of thousands have entered the U.S. illegally.

The Democrat running for governor of Virginia said parents had no business meddling in the education of their children in public schools and in November the Virginia vote swung 10 points to the Republicans and elected the first Republican governor since 2009 as well as a Republican House of Delegates.

Biden the “moderate” became Biden the advocate for a “Build Back Better” tax and spending bill that would increase spending $5 trillion and the debt by $3 trillion if implemented over the full 10 year period.

This bill if passed would have imposed the highest marginal tax rates on income in the developed world. Higher than China. Higher than Europe or Russia. It would have imposed a capital gains tax higher than anything since Jimmy Carter’s malaise.

The bill would also impose tax increases that will make heating your home more expensive. And the bill’s corporate “minimum tax” would increase utility bills across the country as the taxes are passed directly through to consumers.

Biden’s spending bill hands out cash to trial lawyers, a major funder of the modern Democrat party. And cash tax credits to members of the press. No wonder the establishment media have endorsed this bill. They have a big interest—self-interest—in the legislation. Biden wonders why taxpayers find this offensive.

Biden joined Bernie Sanders and “the Squad” in demanding trillions in new spending and trillions more in higher taxes. Biden proposed adding $80 billion dollars to the IRS to hire 87,000 more auditors. The IRS said they would increase audits of small businesses and expect to extract tens of billions of dollars.

Biden quickly pulled U.S. troops out of Afghanistan against the advice of the military and without consulting allies. Biden first closed down the major U.S. airbase which left the capital city of Kabul full of Americans and our allies struggling to get out. Some died in terrorist bombings.

Russia saw this weakness and moved troops to the border of Ukraine. China threatens Taiwan and continues its oppression of the Uyghurs.

The 50 states tell a different story. Twenty-three states are controlled by a Republican governor and state legislature. Only 14 are run wholly by Democrats. Republicans have full control of the legislature in 30 states.

Fourteen Republican states reduced the state income tax in 2021. Ten Republican states have announced the goal of abolishing their state income tax over the next decade. Already eight states have no state income tax. Florida, Texas, and Tennessee have shown how it can be done.

There is a stalemate now in the U.S. Senate. Democrats need 50 votes to pass their tax and spend legislation. Vice President Kamala Harris would then cast the deciding vote for the legislation. But longtime Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin has told the rest of the Democrats he will not vote for legislation that adds to the debt or costs more than $1.7 trillion over 10 years or gives welfare benefits to those not even trying to look for work.

Will some tax and spend legislation pass? Maybe, but it will be smaller and less expensive than Biden is demanding.

Now the question is how Americans will react to the year 2021 in 2022.

Both the House and Senate are up for election. Voters can send Washington a strong message. Do they want higher spending and taxes or less spending and lower taxes? Everyone will be heard on November 8, 2022, and that will decide what the next decade will look like.

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If you follow economic news, you know rising prices for consumer goods are a serious concern. The Bureau of Economic Analysis, for example, reports inflation has hit a 30-year high, and top economists warn it’s only headed higher.

Of course, in Pennsylvania, we don’t need expert forecasts or headlines to understand the reality of rising prices: we see the evidence around us every day. All we have to do is go grocery shopping or fill up the gas tank to see the reality. It’s one of the top concerns I hear about from anxious voters as I’ve traveled the state these last few months. We all recognize we’re spending more to get less — and thanks to the Biden administration’s economic mismanagement, that situation will get worse before it gets better.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in August that the consumer price index increased more than 5.3 percent over the last year. That means the inflation surge is costing each U.S. household an extra $175 per month, according to an analysis by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. For most Americans, that’s a tough burden – which will only grow heavier as prices continue to surge in the months ahead, as expected.

Economists refer to inflation as a “hidden tax” that hits everybody, but it doesn’t affect everybody equally. Working families, seniors on fixed incomes, and anyone who lives on a budget is hit harder. Living paycheck to paycheck? Depend on Social Security for your monthly expenses? Have money in a savings or retirement account? Be prepared to see your long-term purchasing power eaten away by rising prices.

Americans are right to blame Biden for the steep and rapid rise in prices, and they’re concerned by his administration’s reckless push for even more government spending. Americans recognize that printing money and pushing the accelerator on spending will only make things worse and fast.

Biden’s biggest gamble, his gargantuan $4 trillion infrastructure bill (only a tiny fraction of which is dedicated to roads, bridges and real infrastructure projects), will only continue this negative trend. The Republicans and Democrats in Washington who have refused to support the president’s big-spending proposal are doing the right thing trying to stop that train wreck.

We’ve heard a lot about Biden’s supposed moderation, but that moderation is nowhere to be seen lately as the White House pushes every big-ticket spending item from the left’s wish list. So it’s understandable that Pennsylvanians may suspect the entire campaign narrative about Biden’s sympathies for average working Americans was a massive con job.

The question is, what can we do to get surging inflation under control? First, end the spending spree in Washington. Printing money and endless deficit spending are proven losers, but in recent years they seem to be the only items in Washington’s playbook. As the national debt grows ever larger – and let’s be honest, both parties in Washington have contributed to that problem for too long — it’s past time to get serious about restraining runaway spending. That starts with putting a hard stop to Biden’s massive spending plans.

Next, we need to get back to a bipartisan focus on real jobs and growth. The 1980s and 1990s were politically polarized times, but somehow Republicans and Democrats under the Reagan and Clinton administrations managed to work together to nurture a surging economy that created jobs and widely shared economic opportunity. That was achievable once, and we can do it again.

Finally, a word of caution: as the economic problems compound, we should expect that the pro-Biden media and tech industries will go all in to paint a rosy picture, dismiss your legitimate concerns about skyrocketing prices, and even censor discussion of any inconvenient topic that reflects poorly on the president. (I know from experience: When I recently shared accurate inflation data with my followers on Facebook and Instagram, the social media platform flagged my post as “missing context,” a subtle way the tech giants’ censors try to make you doubt truthful information).

Don’t be taken in; trust your own instincts. People can see for themselves the impact that constant cost increases have on their standard of living. Just remember that Biden and his media supporters can’t lie their way out of an inflation spiral – we see the evidence at the check-out counter and the gas pump every day. If we’re going to get inflation under control and restore the economy to health, it’s time to end the business-as-usual spending in Washington and get back to a focus on jobs and growth.

The Wolf administration wants the Keystone State to have a carbon-free electric grid by 2050. But not all Pennsylvanians are amped by the idea.

“I think it’s very good for Pennsylvania that Wolf has only one more year left in his term of office and he can’t run for governor again,” says chairman of the Pennsylvania Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler County). “These types of policies are just going to drive up the cost of energy that we all need in our daily lives.”

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced the Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan 2021 on Wednesday, calling for statewide action on climate change by all sectors of the state.

“As thousands of Pennsylvanians try to recover from historic flooding and tornadoes related to the remnants of Ida this month, the message is clear: we must move now out of a reactive mode on climate change,” Wolf said.

The Wolf administration’s Department of Environmental Protection echoed the governor.

“As a result of increasing greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, Pennsylvania’s average temperature has risen nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1900, bringing more heatwaves and increased intensity of extreme weather events, including heavy rainfall and flooding,” said DEP in a statement ahead of the climate plan announcement. “Pennsylvania is on course to climb another 5.9 degrees by the middle decades of this century.”

There is no data showing any increased intensity in extreme weather. And there has been no increase in flooding.

“These conclusions of the IPCC, indicate that it is simply incorrect [emphasis in original] to claim that on climate time scales the frequency or intensity of extreme weather and climate events has increased for: Flooding, drought (meteorological or hydrological), tropical cyclones, winter storms, thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, lightning or extreme winds,” writes Professor Roger Pielke, Jr. of the University of Colorado.

There are 18 recommendations in Wolf’s Climate Action Plan. They include updating and enforcing building codes, improving energy efficiency in the residential and commercial sectors, increasing the use of on-site solar power in those sectors, adding to the number of electric vehicles, and using programs and incentives to increase energy efficiency in agriculture.

“We’ll get our biggest greenhouse gas emission reductions from creating a carbon-free electricity grid that uses renewable and nuclear energy,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell at a virtual press conference.

“In a world of wishful thinking, policy changes should be based on sound science so that new regulations are reasonable, cost effective, and achievable with existing technology,” says David N. Taylor, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association.

“Gov. Wolf’s  ‘Action Plan’ fails all of these bright-line tests in moving the goal posts on Pennsylvania’s productive sector,” says David Taylor. “Our manufacturers require reliable and affordable energy to add value and satisfy customers, and private sector innovation has led to dramatic decreases in energy-related emissions over the past two decades.”

As these innovations advance, Taylor says we will continue to drive economic growth while improving our environment, all without unnecessary and costly intervention from  Wolf Administration.

“Among those who can’t afford such absurd illusions are more than 8,000 workers whose livelihoods depend on coal-fired plants in Indiana and Armstrong counties and hundreds of businesses and millions of consumers whose profitability and wealth would be eroded by higher electricity prices resulting from Wolf’s so-called green grid,” says Gordon Tomb, senior fellow for the Commonwealth Foundation.

Leo Knepper at Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania (CAP) agrees.

“Wolf is living in some sort of an alternate reality if he thinks that something like a zero-carbon energy grid is desirable or realistic for Pennsylvania,” says Leo Knepper, political director for Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania (CAP). “A paper released in 2016 estimated that the clean energy mandates in place at that time would cost the commonwealth over $700 million in higher electricity costs and 11,000 jobs by 2025.”

The impact of the types of mandates the governor is now suggesting would be far worse, says Knepper.

“Between 2000 and 2018, carbon emissions from energy production dropped by 20 percent, and that’s not due to new mandates,” says Knepper. “Carbon output dropped because natural gas became more price competitive and it is a cleaner-burning fuel.”

As lower-emission energy generation becomes more competitive on a price per kilowatt-hour, Knepper says its consumption will increase and carbon output will naturally decrease further.

“Government trying to front-run the technology and force adoption will result in much higher costs, job losses, and a lower standard of living overall,” says Knepper.

Earlier this year, U.S. Steel announced its plans to cancel a $1.5 billion investment in Mon Valley Works, a decision that affected 3,000 workers. Critics blamed it on the environmental policies from Wolf and President Joe Biden.

“The loss of this $1.5 billion project is a devastating blow to the economy of southwestern Pennsylvania and a slap in the face to the hard-working blue-collar families who were counting on these jobs,” said Pennsylvania state Republican legislators in a May statement. “It is a clear reminder that we need a commonsense, cooperative strategy on energy and the economy.”

“What they announced is the kind of socialist pie-in-the-sky that fits well with Biden’s agenda and AOC’s agenda and The Squad’s agenda from D.C.,” says Metcalfe. “I think Wolf is certainly trying to attract attention from Biden so that when he’s done harming Pennsylvania through his gubernatorial work that he may be able to attract Biden to try to bring him into his administration.”