America's Energy Dominance

Contrary to the rhetoric, the United States is in a period of high energy production

The rhetoric about Biden’s “war on energy,” complaints about gas prices, and the claim of a “decline of American energy independence” hide the impressive American story of burgeoning energy dominance.

There is no war on US energy. In fact, the US has surged in energy independence.

America has become a major net exporter of oil and is producing a record level of natural gas. At the same time, America is making major investments in green energy, has reached 40% emissions-free energy production, and we are reducing our nation's CO2 emissions. All of that has been achieved during a world-leading economic recovery, high GDP growth, and low unemployment.

So why isn’t Biden getting any credit, and why are Republicans getting away with claiming Biden is hurting US energy?

After Russia invaded Ukraine and sanctions were enacted, US gas prices rose 88% in the following six months. In Europe, that increase was 157%. Since then, the price of gas in America has decreased by over half. So while gas prices did increase, they increased by a lower amount than the rest of the world and began to recover quickly. 

However, having a lower price increase compared to other nations doesn’t matter to many Americans, especially those who may be living paycheck to paycheck. They see a higher price than in the past, feel it as a burden, and assume that it must be because the government or even specifically the President is doing something wrong.

This is the same viewpoint that has Americans blaming Biden for inflation that happened prior to enacting his economic policy while also preventing Biden from getting any credit for leading the world’s best economic recovery.

That is where a lot of the negativity about America’s energy comes from and what allows Republicans to easily spread the lie that Biden is attacking US energy production. There is also negativity from the far left, not because they believe Biden isn’t unleashing America's energy, but because they know he is.

The US has been continually increasing its oil production for over a decade, and under President Biden, that has continued.

OPEC, a collection of oil-producing nations that work together to manipulate the global oil market for economic gain, has long had enough output to significantly change the price of oil by increasing or decreasing crude production.

During Biden’s presidency, OPEC has reduced output to drive up prices. Combine that with the sanctions on Russian oil, one of the top three oil exporting nations, and the entire world was hit with much higher oil prices while dealing with high global inflation following the pandemic. 

The US has now become a large exporter of oil, which has helped ease prices for both Americans and our trading partners around the world.

It isn’t just oil. The US has hit new record highs for natural gas production and exports.

And America is at record highs for propane production and exports as well.

The US has truly reached energy dominance when it comes to fossil fuels, which is why very progressive Democrats are upset. Which, in turn, is why the Biden administration feels they can’t tout their energy achievements.

But fossil fuels are only one part of America’s energy strategy. Biden has made record-level investments in green energy and climate change initiatives.

The US is now producing 40% emissions-free energy thanks to increases in renewables, mainly solar and wind, and a reduction in coal.

The rate of increase in renewable energy sources is high. Solar energy is expected to increase by 75% between 2023 and 2025, while wind energy is expected to increase by 11% at the same time. By 2030, Wind will have increased 3x, and solar will have surged up 7-8x, which in turn is expected to push America to as high as 80% clean energy production just 6 years from now.

That is all great news and will steer America to true energy independence. But there is one sticking point for some progressives, nuclear energy. Nuclear energy provides 18% of that emissions-free energy production. There is a coalition of Progressives who are against nuclear energy. 

In the past, I would have spent a decent amount of time promoting why the US should adopt more nuclear power plants. The energy is emissions-free, the plants are safe, and the nuclear waste is much less than people think and easier to store safely than people believe.

While all of that is true, and America should have adopted nuclear power over the last several decades to have moved away from fossil fuels much faster, now that renewable energy sources are advancing so rapidly, there isn’t as much of a need to build new nuclear power plants.

Another piece of good news is that even with the record production of fossil fuels, the US has continued to decrease its CO2 emissions with a 2% reduction last year, which combines into an overall 17% reduction since 2005.

Biden’s goal with the investments in green energy is to create a 50% reduction from 2005 to 2030, which means the reduction will have to be much faster over the next six years, and that is where the increased green energy production comes into play.

If America wants to continue its energy dominance, it will have to aggressively advance green energy manufacturing and research. While the US is leading the world in oil, gas, and propane exports, China is leading the world in green energy exports. The US can close that gap, and as long as policies like the ones Biden has implemented continue to be in place, America will achieve green energy dominance too.

Republicans should be happy that oil, gas, and propane production and exports are all at record highs.

Democrats should be happy that the US has reached 40% emissions-free energy and hopes to hit 80% by 2030, along with a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions.

And yet, hardly anyone in America seems to realize what is really happening with American energy, or they’re simply all playing politics.