OPINION:
The Biden administration’s recent election-year decision to stop new U.S. liquefied natural gas export projects at the behest of activists is bad for America — and the world — by every measure.
It weakens our allies’ national security, puts thousands out of work, and robs Asia and Europe of a reliable and clean source of electricity generation. Yet these types of nonsensical energy policies have become common in the Democratic Party. That’s because Democrats have long ago chosen to put wealthy special interests above the interests of everyday Americans.
This type of billionaire influence, most notably from the Rockefellers and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has been far too prevalent in pushing Democratic energy policy to the fringes. As The Wall Street Journal recently reported, a coalition of out-of-touch billionaires and radical activists led by the Rockefeller Family Fund spearheaded an ultimately successful campaign to convince the president that American natural gas exports are somehow “carbon bombs” despite the fact that natural gas has driven a 32% reduction in U.S. carbon emissions.
This month, another stunning example of special interest overreach was revealed. It turns out the Rockefeller foundations bought, planned, and paid for the New York attorney general’s climate lawsuit against Exxon Mobil — a case that, despite ending in spectacular failure for the state, kicked off a smear campaign, inspired dozens of copycat cases in other states, and further demonized traditional sources of energy.
Sadly, the Rockefellers’ inordinate influence on Democratic energy policy is hardly limited to these examples. They have used their fortune to try to manipulate the public into labeling fossil fuels Enemy No. 1 by creating an echo chamber of climate fanaticism. From funded news desks to pseudoscientific studies to aggressive lobbying campaigns targeting crucial energy infrastructure, the Rockefellers’ long arm is puppeteering nearly every effort to undermine fossil fuels.
While the Rockefellers may be the most egregious example of this environmental collusion, their crusades are part of a broader movement that is often counterproductive to the global good at the benefit and behest of select interests.
On the issue of natural gas, for example, there is widespread consensus that hydrocarbon enables prosperity by supplying dispatchable power and serving as a feedstock for fertilizers, making it the primary component in goods deemed most essential to human life — namely, food and electricity.
From a national security point of view, natural gas exports have supplied our European and Asian allies with much-needed energy since Russia invaded Ukraine. As if these benefits weren’t enough reason to recognize the importance of fuel, natural gas is also helping decrease global emissions by displacing Chinese coal and dirty Russian gas. That’s the goal of environmentalists, right?
Nevertheless, the Biden administration is bowing to billionaire activists who seek to prevent billions around the world (many of whom consume less power than the average American refrigerator) from accessing the vast energy resources below our feet (while the elites fly around in their private jets). Conveniently, or more likely entirely because it is an election year, the White House is eager to win points with the climate crowd despite hostile reactions from Democrats and Republicans in Congress and global partners.
Indeed, moderate Democrats from swing districts and states that understand the value of energy are sounding the alarm. Both Democratic senators from Pennsylvania recently eviscerated the president after the blatantly political pause on permits for LNG terminals.
To her credit, even Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who defended the Mountain Valley Pipeline last year — another project whose opposition was bankrolled by the Rockefellers — has continually called on environmentalists to collaborate with, not demonize, energy producers. This approach is what yields true win-win solutions, like we’ve seen in Pennsylvania.
Alternatively, California has chosen to appease climate activists and the billionaires who bankroll them by cementing the state as an enemy of the energy industry. Its shameless, politically ambitious governor has made splashy headlines bragging that the Golden State is the energy industry’s greatest “foe.”
While the California energy exodus may receive applause from the climate crowd, businesses abandoning the state under fire from Gov. Gavin Newsom will take their drilling rigs with them, leaving the state with little cushion when its gasoline prices, already the highest in the nation, begin to skyrocket (again).
While billionaire Rockefellers can afford to pay for the repercussions of the abysmal energy policy they helped engineer, the average American cannot. The Democratic Party would best serve the country if more of its members recognized the economic and social need for essential energy from fossil fuels. In the words of Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary, “it’s time to wake up and smell the hydrocarbons.”
• Thomas Pyle is president of the American Energy Alliance and co-host of the podcast “The Unregulated.”
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