AMAC Exclusive – By Claire Brighn

In the months leading up to his inauguration, Joe Biden embraced the “Green New Deal” as a central component of his policy platform and an essential part of his plan to “save” the world from the supposedly existential threat of climate change. He said he would be willing to “sacrifice” hundreds of thousands of blue-collar jobs to carry out the “clean energy revolution” this required. From the U.S. Capitol steps, with his presidency about to unfold, Biden forewarned: “We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility.”

Now, gas prices are 49.6 percent higher than last year, grocery prices are climbing, and real wage growth has fallen. Nearly half of all American households face financial hardship, with seven in ten low-income households reporting that they are struggling to get by. To top it all off, weather experts predict that this winter will be one of the coldest on record – so much for global warming. All told, this may in fact be a “winter of peril” for families, but it won’t be due to the supposedly imminent climate crisis. It will be because American families this winter tragically find themselves struggling to choose between food and fuel thanks to soaring costs resulting from the Biden administration’s policies.

In many parts of America where temperatures are expected to hit below zero, the budgeting decision is a Sophie’s choice. Natural gas, which nearly half of all American families use to heat their homes, is expected to cost 30% more this winter than last. The average cost of propane and heating oil is up roughly a dollar per gallon. And to pile on these problems, in some places furnace parts are unavailable due to ongoing supply chain woes – also exacerbated by ill-advised policies from the Biden administration.

Millions of Americans who rely on coal-fueled power plants to heat and power their homes can’t rest easy, either. John Kerry, Biden’s Climate Envoy, said just last week that we should be “closing coal plants five times faster than we are.” Meanwhile, according to the Institute for Energy Research, Biden’s war on American energy has actually driven up coal demand at utility companies to help power homes. Now, as the bitterly cold months of January and February rapidly approach, these essential coal stockpiles are at a dismal 87 million tons, down 35 percent from last year. Just ask families in Texas who had a loved one freeze to death last winter when “green” energy sources failed about how important it is to keep the coal fires burning when winter fully sets in.

Much of the trouble can be traced back to Biden’s early executive actions that crippled the American energy sector. On his first day in office, Biden effectively killed the Keystone XL Pipeline (even though his Energy Secretary admitted “pipe is the best way” to transport fuel), eliminating thousands of American jobs. Biden also prohibited new leases on federal lands, choking out investment, jobs, and American energy independence. And now, as Americans may face over 50 percent higher heating costs than last winter, Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan currently being debated in the Senate proposes a “home heating tax.”

Biden has also installed numerous radicals throughout the federal government who are just as fanatical about the crusade against American energy. Tracy Stone-Manning, the current head of the Bureau of Land Management, has ties to eco-terrorist groups. Saule Omarova, who Biden nominated to be Comptroller of the Currency before she ultimately withdrew her nomination after bipartisan opposition, is on record saying “we want [oil, gas, and coal industries] to go bankrupt.”

Critics have also pointed out that the administration’s energy policy has been filled with hypocrisy and seeming contradictions. For example, after killing the Keystone XL Pipeline project because, in short, “pipelines are bad for the climate,” Biden removed sanctions on Nord Stream 2, a pipeline between Russia and Germany, effectively giving his stamp of approval to the project. After implementing a series of policies aimed at drawing down domestic energy production, ostensibly over concerns about “carbon emissions,” Biden begged foreign oil producers to increase their output to alleviate price increases. When that didn’t work, Biden instead tapped into the U.S. strategic petroleum reserves, which the National Association of Manufacturers slammed as merely a “band-aid” solution.

But really, this American “winter of peril” should not be surprising to anyone who listened to Biden on the campaign trail in 2020. Biden admitted then that there was “no middle ground” in his effort to finish the devastating war on American oil and gas he helped orchestrate as Vice President under President Obama. Just as with other failed Obama-era policies, Biden has doubled down on his embrace of the far-left’s view on the need for a “green revolution.” But rest assured that no one will cut the heat off at the White House this winter – it’s only those families who can least afford it that will suffer under Biden’s plan to “save” the world from climate change.

Claire Brighn is the pen name of a conservative researcher and writer with previous domestic and foreign policy experience in the Executive Branch.

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