WE ALL SAW THIS COMING:
New scapegoat just dropped t.co/XrEsTmFatR
— Angela Morabito (@AngelaLMorabito) February 23, 2022
It’s bullshit, of course:
Due to Ukraine crisis? pic.twitter.com/maXK5z6YiC
— TheRightWingM 🇺🇸 (@TheRightWingM) February 23, 2022
More than a year into the Biden administration, and gas prices remain a dollar higher on average than they were at nearly any point in the Trump administration, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The latest price spikes to reach seven-year highs are no coincidence. They are instead a direct consequence of White House policy, suppressing production in the name of climate change through a cascade of environmental regulation.
In a weekend filing, the Biden Justice Department (DOJ) quietly sought once again to do just that with a request in federal court to stay a decision on “social cost of carbon (SCC)” rules. The estimates calculated to determine potential cost/benefit analyses of environmental regulations were dropped from $51 per ton of carbon dioxide under the Obama administration including global damage from emissions to $7 under Trump, exclusive to domestic damage. President Joe Biden reversed the figure to $51 again while his Interior Department designs its own guidelines.
On Saturday, administration officials demanded the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana suspend a preliminary injunction against the SCC rules after a challenge from a coalition of 10 Republican-led states. Earlier this month, Judge James D. Cain Jr. blew back the curtain on Biden’s use of the administrative state to “artificially increase the cost estimates” of oil and gas drilling and granted the Republican injunction.
The appeal filed by DOJ attorneys, however, will pause oil and gas projects as regulators wait on confirmation of how to proceed, using Trump-era estimates for the social cost of carbon or Obama’s until new rules are handed down. The higher cost will raise oil and gas prices by justifying more limits on federal leasing, and the Biden Interior Department has been aggressive in its desire to reform the oil and gas program at the heart of its climate agenda.
Industry leaders slammed the appeal as another effort to antagonize domestic producers.
The more we talk about Russia the less we talk about inflation.
— Sven Henrich (@NorthmanTrader) February 22, 2022
h/t Glenn