Biden: ‘We Can Get Rid of Coal Much More Rapidly’ and I’ve Banned Offshore Drilling, But We Do Need Fossil Fuels

During an interview with Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” released on Monday, President Joe Biden bragged that his administration is “going faster than anyone’s ever gone” on climate and that he has barred offshore oil drilling, but acknowledged that we will “need fossil fuels for at least the next ten years.” Biden also stated that “we can get rid of coal much more rapidly.”

Host Kal Penn asked, “You’re also responsible for reviewing drilling and oil production. What would you say to those young people who want you to continue to be their champion, but might not think that you’re going far enough or fast enough on climate?”

Biden responded, “Well, first of all, we’re going faster than anyone’s ever gone. We’re going to need fossil fuels for at least the next ten years. It’s not like tomorrow, we can turn it all off, number one. And so, in addition to that, things got really complicated when Putin put 185,000 forces into Ukraine and [had] a profound impact on their energy, ability to keep the heat on in the winter, and keep things moving. And so, we’re going to need fossil fuel. What we have to do is we have to — I’ve said, no more drilling off of our ocean — a whole range, but there still has to be the ability to generate some energy. But we can get rid of coal much more rapidly. And by the way, for example, I was up in Massachusetts, one of the largest coal-producing electric facilities in the nation, well, guess what? We hooked it up to wind technology. And so, now, it’s cheaper. We can do solar, we can do wind cheaper than we can do fossil fuels. So, it’s a matter of transitioning. But it’s not like you can cut everything off immediately.”

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