Higher Energy Prices: The Real Goal Of Biden's Green Team

As energy prices soar it is important that we realize that increasing the price of gas and of home heating oil is not an unintended consequence of Biden's green agenda, but rather its goal. As in Europe, the environmentalists have pushed up pump prices to discourage driving and heating to reduce the "carbon footprint."

In Europe, huge taxes have pushed pump prices to more than double those Americans are accustomed to paying. But, in the US, popular resistance to high taxes — as exemplified by truckers' protests — has stayed the hand of the greenies. But the Ukraine War offers a golden opportunity to make driving too expensive.

As with efforts to limit smoking, higher prices are the best path to success. The left has bandied about proposals for a carbon tax and a mileage levy to reduce consumption. But now the markets are doing it by themselves as uncertainty in global energy markets mounts.

On the issue of gas prices, Biden's administration is at war with itself. Its political advisors recognize the harm higher prices are inflicting on his job approval as pump prices rise sharply following years of stability under Trump.

But his environmental puppeteers can only cheer as prices rise. After all, it was their influence on policy that enabled the Russian invasion in the first place by cutting US energy output and limiting our ability to replace Russian oil and gas shipments to Europe. Our inability to keep Europe's energy supplies whole even in the face of a Russian cutoff made Putin confident he could stop NATO from intervening as he invaded Ukraine.

More even than the threat of World War III it is the danger of a cold winter that stays Europe's hand in retaliating for the Ukraine invasion. It is not so much Putin's finger on the trigger that holds NATO in check, it is has hand on the pipeline valve.

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But it need not be so. Encouraging natural gas production by fracking and offshore drilling is already slicing our use of crude oil dramatically. In the past twenty years, US crude oil consumption has dropped by 13%, even as our economy has doubled in size.

Natural gas, that has only half as large a carbon footprint as oil, now generates about 40% of our electricity, a doubling over the past two decades while coal has been cut in half.

With robust natural gas production, we could curtail carbon emissions and help Europe to free itself from Russian domination at the same time.

An intelligent approach to fighting carbon emissions would center on increasing US natural gas production and freeing ourselves — and our European friends — from dependence on oil.

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Dick Morris, who served as adviser to former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and former President Clinton, is the author of 16 books.