Biden stuns president with pledge to transition nation from oil and gas

by WorldTribune Staff, October 23, 2020

The U.S. oil and gas industry supports more than 10 million jobs which pay on average more than $100,000 per year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers and the American Petroleum Institute.

The industry contributes more than $1 trillion to the U.S. economy each year.

Asked by President Donald Trump if he would ‘close down the oil industry,’ Joe Biden replied, ‘I would transition from the oil industry, yes.’

Joe Biden stunned President Donald Trump, and much of the nation, during Thursday’s debate when the Democrat candidate vowed that he would “transition” away from the oil and gas industry.

Asked by Trump if he would “close down the oil industry,” Biden replied, “I would transition from the oil industry, yes.”

Trump replied, “That’s a big statement,” and Biden agreed, saying, “It is a big statement.”

Why? “Because the oil industry pollutes significantly,” said Biden, adding, “Because it has to be replaced by renewable energy over time, over time.”

Trump said: “That’s maybe the biggest statement — in terms of business, that’s the biggest statement, because basically what he’s saying is he’s going to destroy the oil industry.”

“Will you remember that, Texas? Will you remember that, Pennsylvania? Oklahoma?” asked Trump.

Andy Puzder, author of “It’s Time to Let America Work Again”, noted in a debate analysis for Fox News: “Biden spouted a slew of fundamental inaccuracies on Thursday night demonstrating a stunning misunderstanding of how the economy actually works, culminating in a pledge to destroy the American oil industry.”

This would destroy millions of jobs “and degrade the foundations of our entire industrial society,” Puzder wrote. “The champagne glasses in Beijing and Moscow were surely clinking at that statement. Let’s hope they’re not clinking after November 3rd.”

Puzder added: “I’m unsure what Biden spent the whole week studying down there in his basement. His debate performance certainly gave us no clues. One thing is for sure, it wasn’t an Economics 101 textbook.”

“America is the cleanest industrialized nation on the planet, decreasing EPA-regulated pollutants by 73 percent over the last forty years while economic growth increased 262 percent and the population grew 60 percent,” said Wayne Christian, head of the Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s regulator of the oil and gas industry. “Biden’s goal of zero emissions is impossible and will hurt American families by destroying our economy and making our nation less safe.”

Chevron Corp. said it has “found ways to work constructively with 27 different administrations” in the more than 140 years the company has been in business.

ExxonMobil Corp. referred to a statement from the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group for the oil and gas industry.

“Democrats, Republicans and independents know that the U.S. natural gas and oil industry delivers affordable and reliable energy to American families and businesses and all over the world,” the organization said in its statement. “We aren’t going anywhere.”

Despite his pledge to end the oil and gas industry, Biden still insisted that he will not ban fracking.

“I never said I oppose fracking,” Biden said while reiterating that he wants to prohibit hydraulic fracturing on federal land.

“I do rule out banning fracking because we need other industries as a transition to get to ultimately complete zero emissions by 2025,” said Biden. “What I will do with fracking over time is make sure that we can capture the emissions from the fracking, capture the emissions from gas. We can do that and we can do that by investing money in doing that. It’s a transition to that.”

Trump retorted, “He was against fracking. He said it,” prompting Republicans to post video clips on social media of Biden pledging to end fracking.

At the March 15 Democrat primary debate, Biden said, “No more, no new fracking.” At a September 2019 appearance, he said, “I guarantee you, we are going to end fossil fuel.”

Puzder noted: “Even if he had never said he would eliminate fracking (which he did), he obviously couldn’t satisfy his commitment to get to zero carbon emissions by 2035 without eliminating it.”


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