With the U.S. already facing concerns about skyrocketing energy prices and fuel shortages this winter, the Biden administration is reportedly considering shutting down another U.S. oil pipeline, which will undoubtedly make things worse, Republicans said.
Democrat Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm countered by saying that energy prices will go up anyway, even if the administration doesn’t shutdown another pipeline.
“President Joe Biden’s Administration is considering shutting down the Line 5 oil pipeline that links Superior, Wisconsin with Sarnia, Ontario, sources report,” according to the Daily Mail.
A dozen Republicans blasted the threatened shutdown in a letter to Biden last week.
“’As we enter the winter months and temperatures drop across the Midwest, the termination of Line 5 will undoubtedly further exacerbate shortages and price increases in home heating fuels like natural gas and propane at a time when Americans are already facing rapidly rising energy prices, steep home heating costs, global supply shortages, and skyrocketing gas prices,’” Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and a dozen other congressional lawmakers representing the region said in letter to Biden on Nov. 4,” according to Politico.
“This is going to happen. It will be — it will be more expensive this year than last year,” Granholm told CNN’s Dana Bash about heating costs this winter.
Granholm was pilloried previously for laughing off higher gas prices at the pump.
Appointing Jennifer Granholm was another terrible Biden decision.
Her laughing at the price of gas & solutions to solve it is just another slap in the face to all Michiganders. https://t.co/w6sjVKoF4M
— Tori Sachs (@Tori_Sachs) November 5, 2021
In one of his first acts in office Biden issued a moratorium on new federal oil and gas leases.
While a judge halted the order saying only Congress has authority over those leases, oil and gas developers remain hesitant to commit the money necessary for oil and gas exploration under an administration that is hostile to its interests.
The company responsible for operation of the Keystone pipeline, for example, decided that if would officially terminate the pipeline because of the Biden administration’s hostility, after the administration revoked a permit to build the pipeline in January despite already building 300 miles of the project.
“This is a blow to U.S. energy security and a blow to the thousands of good-paying union jobs this project would have supported,” said Robin Rorick, American Petroleum Institute’s vice president of midstream and industry operations according to NPR.
Still the blows keep coming and Americans aren’t laughing, even if Granholm and Biden are.
Even without a stoppage of pumping on Line 5, the government admitted that heating costs this winter will go up as much as 54%.
“The sharpest increases are likely for homes that use propane, which account for only 5% of U.S. households, but others are also likely to see big increases,” said Time.
“Homes that use natural gas, which make up nearly half of all U.S. households, may spend $746 this winter, 30% more than a year ago. That could make this winter’s heating bills the highest for them since the winter of 2008-2009,” the report said.
