A paper from the energy advocacy nonprofit Power the Future argues that the American energy landscape would radically change under a Joe Biden administration, including ending America’s shale revolution and enacting as many policies as possible from the Green New Deal.
The report compiled a list of Democrats who are contenders for Biden Cabinet posts, including Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) as secretary of the Department of Interior; Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT) for Interior secretary or Department of Energy secretary; Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) to head Interior or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) for Department of Energy; Secretary Julian Castro (D-TX) (HUD secretary under Obama) for EPA; and Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) for several energy-related posts.
“Bullock, Heinrich, and Lujan Grisham all represent major fossil fuel states,” Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of Power the Future, told Breitbart News. “If they are interested in positions in the Biden-Harris administration, which will be the most anti-energy presidency in history, the question is this: are they hiding their energy policies from Biden to get the job, or have they been lying to their constituents the entire time they’ve been in elected office?”
“Under President Trump’s leadership, America has become the largest oil and gas producer in the world,” Turner said. “A Biden/Harris administration would seek to reverse and undermine that course with Green New Deal-inspired policies and a pledge to end drilling.”
The report also includes findings from the Trump administration:
A study by the Trump White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) profoundly expresses what would be lost if Biden wins. Titled “The Value of U.S. Energy Innovation and Policies Supporting the Shale Revolution,” CEA found that, by lowering energy prices, “the shale revolution saves U.S. consumers $203 billion annually, or $2,500 for a family of four.” About 80 percent of the total savings “stem from a substantially lower price for natural gas, of which more than half comes from lower electricity prices.” Moreover, “Oil accounts for the other roughly 20 percent of the savings, most of which are transportation sector savings on fuel.”
The report also details who is advising the Biden campaign on energy, and that list is equally revealing of what direction the former vice president would take the country.
• Stef Feldman is the policy director for Biden’s campaign. Before that, she was the policy director at the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware. Feldman also held multiple positions in the Obama administration, including deputy director for domestic and economic policy.
• Former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy is also a member of Biden’s Climate Task Force. McCarthy is now the president and CEO of the left-wing Natural Resources Defense Council. McCarthy was instrumental in developing the Clean Power Plan while at the EPA.
• Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) is also a member of Biden’s Climate Task Force. Additionally, she is the chair of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and cochair of the House Democratic Environmental Message Team. Castor was an environmental attorney and served as the chairwoman of the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission before being elected to Congress.
• Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA) is also a member of Biden’s Climate Task Force, is cochair of the House Democratic Environmental Message Team, and cofounder of the United for Climate and Environmental Justice Congressional Task Force.
• Heather Zichal is a member of Biden’s Climate Task Force as well. Zichal is the executive director of the Blue Prosperity Coalition and worked previously at The Nature Conservancy. Zichal was the deputy assistant to the president for energy and climate change in the Obama administration. Ironically, the report says that Zichal has profited from fossil fuels. After leaving the Obama administration, she joined the board of Cheniere, a natural gas company. Zichal resigned from its board of directors in July 2018. In 2017, her last full year on Cheniere’s board, Zichal was paid $218,771.
• Frank Verrastro is another member of Biden’s Climate Task Force. Verrastro is a senior advisor with the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He previously served in the federal government in the Departments of Energy and Interior.
• Varshini Prakash is also a member of Biden’s Climate Task Force. Prakash is the executive director of the radical Sunrise Movement and has led protests in support of the Green New Deal.
• Kerry Duggan, too, is a member of Biden’s Climate Task Force. In the Obama administration, Duggan was Biden’s deputy director for Policy. She also held positions in the Department of Energy under Secretary Ernest Moniz, who served under Obama.
• Catherine Flowers is also a member of Biden’s Climate Task Force. She is the founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice and is a senior fellow at the Center for Earth Ethics.
“On energy and environmental policy, Biden is fully simpatico with the most extremist elements of the Democratic party and the green movement,” the report summary stated. “The effects of these policies would cripple America’s shale revolution and immiserate consumers, especially the poor.”
“Biden’s more than three-decade voting record in the U.S. Senate shows he marched lockstep with green radicalism,” the report stated, “which is why his campaign energy and climate agenda, fashioned by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), aka, AOC, and other acolytes of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), is a logical extension of his record.”
Biden has also vowed to put the United States back into the Paris Climate Accord.
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