Fox News host and former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino on Wednesday criticized the shift in the United States’ energy policies under President Joe Biden, which Perino linked to left-wing climate change hysteria egged on by teenager Greta Thunberg.
“We actually changed our entire energy policy because Greta Thunberg yelled at us,” Perino said on Fox News’ “The Five.”
The co-host called the White House’s move to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves, working with 30 other countries, “insulting.”
“That is, I think, an insulting policy decision by the White House, and to proclaim that like it’s some great thing for the State of the Union address,” Perino said. “Because, if you’re at home, you’re thinking ‘60 million barrels, that’s not a lot.’ It’s less than three days of what we consume. That’s ridiculous.”
“What the president could have done last night, he could have done an ‘[Operation] Warp Speed’ for innovation, in terms of [producing] cleaner energy — reward innovation,” Perino continued. “But to then tell the Left, very clearly, ‘We are going to have to ramp up our traditional fossil fuels for the next several years so that we can protect our national security, protect your gas prices, but rest assured we’re trying to get to the greener energy.”
“We actually changed our entire energy policy because Greta Thunberg yelled at us,” Perino added.
Thunberg in 2019 scolded world leaders at a United Nations climate action summit for not adhering to radical climate change policy prescriptions.
“My message is that we’ll be watching you,” the teen said. “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!”
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,” a scowling Thunberg claimed. “And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
Notably, President Biden has canceled the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and recently halted new oil and gas leases indefinitely as gas prices at home skyrocket to a seven-year-high.
“Oil prices surged Tuesday, with U.S. crude hitting its highest level since June 2014 as Russia bears down on Ukraine’s capital,” CNBC News reported hours before Biden gave his address Tuesday night. “West Texas Intermediate crude Futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, jumped 11.5% at the highs of the day to $106.78 per barrel. The contract eased off that level during afternoon trading and ended the session at $103.41, for a gain of 8.03%.”
“International benchmark Brent crude hit a high of $107.57 per barrel, a price last seen in July 2014. The contract ended the day at $104.97 per barrel, for a gain of 7.15%,” the report added.
The Biden administration announced last week that they’re indefinitely delaying new oil and gas drilling on federal land and other energy-related actions following a federal court ruling that blocks the administration from using their steep “social cost of carbon” estimate.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. imported 672,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia last year:
About 8% of U.S. imports of oil and refined products, or about 672,000 barrels a day, came from Russia last year, said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston, citing figures from the Energy Information Administration. Of that, Russia’s crude made up roughly 3% of the nation’s imports, about 200,000 barrels a day.
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