Roy Blunt: President Biden bringing back job-destroying energy policies

(From Sen. Roy Blunt, R-MO)

President Biden wasted no time kicking his administration off with a slew of failed Obama-era energy policies that will destroy jobs, raise costs where we live, and make our economy less competitive.

Failed Energy Policy #1: Halting the Keystone XL Pipeline

A few hours after swearing his oath of office, President Biden took a page right out of President Obama’s playbook. He revoked a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, forcing immediate layoffs.

The Obama administration, along with congressional Democrats, delayed the Keystone XL pipeline project for years. President Trump approved a permit for the project in July 2020. Since then, thousands of Americans have been working on the project and thousands more were expected to be hired this year.

One of the largest trade unions in America strongly opposed the move, saying it “will reduce good-paying union jobs that allow workers to provide a middle-class standard of living to their families. America needs access to various forms of energy that can keep its economy running in the years ahead. This decision will hurt that effort.”

Now, at a time when our economy is still recovering from the pandemic, President Biden did away with thousands of jobs and undermined American energy security with the stroke of a pen.

And what for? Nothing. Even a past environmental review by President Obama’s own State Department found that the pipeline would have no significant impact.

Failed Energy Policy #2: Rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement

In 2015, President Obama completely ignored the Senate’s duty to advise and consent on treaties and joined the Paris climate agreement. I opposed this move in 2015 and I oppose it now.

The commitments under the Paris agreement would have a sweeping impact across our economy. Previous analysis found the Obama administration’s Paris emissions pledge could cost trillions of dollars and cause the loss of millions of jobs.

Under this agreement, the U.S. is obligated to send billions of dollars to developing countries for climate mitigation.

The Paris agreement also hurts America’s competitiveness by allowing our adversaries to increase emissions while we place extensive restrictions on ourselves.

Under President Trump, the United States formally withdrew from the Paris agreement. I completely supported that move.

Unfortunately, just hours into his administration, President Biden re-committed the United States to this deeply flawed, job-crushing agreement.

Failed Energy Policy #3: Banning New Oil and Gas Leases on Public Lands and Federal Waters

Continuing his trend of leading by executive fiat, President Biden issued yet another sweeping Executive Order. This time, he ordered the Department of the Interior to stop new leases for oil and gas production on public lands and offshore waters.

An analysis found that a ban on energy production on federal lands and waters could cost an estimated one million jobs by 2022. By 2030, U.S. GDP could be cut by a cumulative $700 billion.

The same analysis found that such a ban could also mean we would likely have to import energy sources from overseas. This would export American energy jobs to places like China, Russia, Venezuela, the Middle East, and Africa.

For 8 years, the Obama administration saddled our economy with excessive, burdensome regulations. After we rolled back miles of Obama-era red tape, our economy thrived before the pandemic. Now, because President Biden is bringing back these failed energy policies, we’re back to square one.

We need an all-of-the-above energy policy, especially where we live. With energy-intensive industries like agriculture and manufacturing, we stand to lose even more when costs go up. Higher energy bills will hit lower-income families the hardest at a time when they can least afford it. Unfortunately, these early moves don’t bode well for what lies ahead – more burdensome regulations with little to no benefit, and more bureaucratic overreach from Washington.

I fought these moves during the Obama administration. I supported President Trump’s all-of-the-above American energy strategy and I will continue to advocate for policies that protect Missouri families, farmers, and small businesses.