Oil and gas industry “in the crosshairs?”
The media just can’t bring themselves to say “thank you” to the oil and gas industry in New Mexico. The latest is the Albuquerque Journal’s thee part series on the Industry which states it is “in the crosshairs” and includes several inane statements including one from NMSU economist Jim Peach. Peach essentially advocated for “modern monetary theory” on the RGF podcast.
For starters, European countries which always pay somewhat more for gasoline due to heavy tax burdens are currently paying MUCH more due to the situation in Ukraine. England, for example, is paying $8.30/gallon. Natural gas prices which Europe is more directly reliant on and is not quite the global market that oil is have risen even more dramatically, hitting record highs.
Rather than the “in the crosshairs” rhetoric, Americans should be saying hearty “thank you’s” to the frackers and other innovators who have brought Americans inexpensive, reliable energy.
Environmentalists ALWAYS have energy in their crosshairs, but the truth is they have nothing to replace traditional energy with. We saw this when PNM started talking about a “blackout” debacle coming this summer. Environmentalists opposed to coal didn’t try to oppose keeping the plant open.
Finally, the article completely accepts the claims by so-called “experts” that “Laying the blame on Biden is almost as stupid as blaming Jimmy Carter for oil shortages in the 1970s.”
Peach doesn’t even get is basic history right. The Jimmy Carter administration began a phased deregulation of oil prices on April 5, 1979 (that’s more than halfway through his term). Price controls on gasoline (and to be clear Nixon is to blame for imposing them) WERE a big part of the problem with shortages.
Similarly Biden has slowed permitting, eliminated pipelines, and imposed numerous regulations on the Industry, all while bringing increased uncertainty to it. Biden is definitely to blame for a significant part of the recent price runup. Media/Administration claims to the contrary are bogus.
