Just the news reports https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/tuebiden-climate-policy-track-punish-blue-collar-america-prop-putin-experts

“In former President Donald Trump’s final month in office, the United States achieved something it hadn’t in more than a generation: In the final week of December, America didn’t import a single drop of crude oil from Saudi Arabia for the first time in 35 years.”

Energy independence is one thing and at the same time reducing your carbon footprint whilst leaving the Paris accord, is called walking the walk.

Low energy costs saves lives, given over 60% of climate related deaths in the US are caused from people freezing to death from the cold. But it also isn’t good for economies reliant on energy exports.

“The low prices throughout 2020 also crimped Russia’s energy-dependent economy, leading to greater unrest in Moscow.”

The irony won’t be missed on many here. After years of hearing that Trump was colluding with Russia, what is the result of Biden’s arrival as president?

“Trump’s pro-America energy policies were a disaster for Russia, and the truth is Biden is a godsend for Russia,” economist Steve Moore says”

‘There is no doubt in my mind that the irony of the Russia collusion nonsense was that there was no one who hurt Russia more than Trump and his America-first energy policies,” Moore said. “Russia really is nothing more than a third world country, with oil and gas.”

The reality is the policies that Biden is rolling out as part of the ‘green new deal’ have increased the cost of energy. Oil prices are up and this aides Russia, the Saudi’s and Iran.

The real kicker though is the impact of Biden’s policies.

“Whether or not the news media addresses it, the energy industry already has. The American Petroleum Institute, the leading oil and gas trade group in the United States, recently completed a study showing that a longer-term ban on new federal energy leases could:

• Increase U.S. oil imports from foreign sources by 2 million barrels a day by 2030
• Decrease annual U.S. natural gas exports by 800 billion cubic feet by 2030
• Cut U.S. GDP by a cumulative $700 billion by 2030
• Cost nearly 1 million jobs by 2022
• Increase U.S. household energy costs by $19 billion by 2030

A lot of down sides there, but surely that will lead to environmental benefits then?

‘This may not have the effect of reducing consumption,” Stephen Barnes, director of the Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, told The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge recently. “The global oil market may respond with higher prices and more sales for the Middle East and Russia.”forced to turn to foreign petroleum in order to keep running.”

That’s right. As we know, by increasing the cost of energy, it only reduces the use of it with those too poor to afford it. Those sitting in there frozen homes as the US goes through it’s coldest winter in years.

All that will happen is rather than producing oil at home and using it, it will be sailed or arrive by rail which increases the carbon footprint of using the stuff that you were getting yourself.

It takes a special kind of policy maker to both harm the environment and the economy at the same time.

Biden must be getting advice from Ardern.