Meet the US Workers Who Were Devastated by Biden's Climate Executive Orders in Just a Day
Newton’s third law of motion tells us that, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
The new leader of the free world might have just proven Newton wrong.
Hours after he received the greatest honor of his life, an adoring establishment media looked on as newly sworn-in President Joe Biden scribbled his name on an executive order revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. This simple act of applying pen to paper on Inauguration Day appears to have triggered a very unequal and opposite reaction.
Immediately, thousands of workers lost their jobs.
But the misery didn’t end there. Many Americans are experiencing the ripple effects of this ill-considered action.
The New York Post’s Salena Zito shared the story of Laurie and Wally Cox, owners of the Stroppel Hotel in Midland, South Dakota.
“On the morning of Jan. 20, every room … was filled with men and women who work on the Keystone XL pipeline. … By 4 p.m., the entire place was cleared out, leaving the historic hotel silent for the first time since owners Laurie and Wally Cox took it over six months ago,” Zito wrote.
Sitting in the now-empty hotel, Laurie Cox told Zito, “We structured our prices to suit the per diems of each trade. We created a common room because there is a real sense of community within these workers, and we thrived since the day we opened our doors. … Our whole world turned upside down with the stroke of a pen.”
As they spoke, Cox’s husband was hours away looking for work as a millwright.
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She said “the entire town became an instant ghost down” on Jan. 20.
David and Kristina Dickerson, both of whom lost their jobs when Biden signed the Keystone XL pipeline order, told Steve Doocy, co-host of Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” that they “feel betrayed” by the Biden administration.
“We’ve had to actually dip into our retirement and our 401(k), just trying to survive until something like this come up. We’ve been depending on this to happen and it just all of a sudden got ripped out from under us and we’re not going to be able to do it now,” David Dickerson said Wednesday.
Kristina Dickerson said three of their four children work in the oil and gas industry as well.
Similar scenarios are playing out across America.
Another executive order Biden signed on day one placed a 60-day moratorium on new oil and natural gas leases and drilling permits on federal lands and waters. If this pause becomes permanent, it will devastate the economies of New Mexico and other oil-producing states.
The Associated Press reported Jan. 22 that “top Republicans in the state as well as local leaders in communities that border the Permian Basin — one of the most productive regions in the U.S. — say any moves to make permanent the suspension would be economically devastating for the state. Half of New Mexico’s production happens on federal land and amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties each year.”
The report said Biden’s order would hit New Mexico especially hard because “spending on education and other public programs hinges on the [oil] industry’s success.”
Behind each of Biden’s sweeping decrees are American people. Workers who are losing their jobs. Families who are now facing financial struggles. Children whose parents no longer can afford to send them to college. This misery will lead some families to split up. Some will turn to alcohol and drugs. Others may choose suicide.
But for Biden and those who worship at the altar of climate change, this is tremendous progress.
America’s economy is already reeling from government shutdowns related to a pandemic.
If the Biden administration had jobs available in energy-efficient industries into which displaced workers could immediately transition, it might be justified (not really) in making these abrupt changes. But the truth is, very few jobs in “clean energy” are currently available, and they likely won’t be for years. Moreover, workers would require some training or even a long period of training to qualify for the positions that are available. Most importantly, they would be earning less money.
This administration appears to be “winging it.” With a complete disregard for the human costs of their actions, Biden and his team are making it up as they go along.
In addition to turning people’s lives upside-down, they’re killing the fossil fuel industry before they have a viable source of “clean” energy to replace it.
Estimates of the percentage of America’s energy needs that are met by fossil fuels vary widely. It’s difficult to provide a definitive amount because each sector uses different amounts of a variety of energy sources. For instance, “petroleum provides about 91% of the transportation sector’s energy consumption, but less than 1% of the electric power sector’s primary energy use,” according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
However, I did find one constant. Renewable, “clean” energy, which includes solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and biomass power, supplies between 11 and 19 percent of U.S. energy needs, depending on the sector.
Clearly, the country is nowhere near ready to end our dependence on fossil fuels.
Without a viable source of alternative energy, it won’t be long before America becomes, once again, dependent on other nations for our energy supply. And that will ultimately threaten our national security.
The Biden administration brain trust needs to put on the brakes and think things through. If it chooses to enact these policies, it must come up with solutions to address the unintended consequences they cause, such as high unemployment and underemployment rates as well as the loss of our energy independence. Because if the frenetic pace of these reckless executive orders continues, America is headed to a bad place.
Remember last week when Biden told Americans it was Climate Day at the White House, and that meant it was Jobs Day at the White House?
‘Climate day’ is also ‘jobs day,’ Biden says as he issues sweeping new orders on fuel, power and more https://t.co/pIqatQHKvF pic.twitter.com/WaHs8fGjlU
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) January 27, 2021
Looks like “Scranton Joe” has gone over to the dark side.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
