Biden’s attack on U.S. energy producers, starting with his freeze on federal oil and gas leases, will assuredly take a toll on output down the road and cause prices at the pump to rise.
Instead of attempting to build on that achievement, Biden has tried to bury it. Upon taking office President Biden immediately froze arms sales to the UAE, which had been promised as part of the deal. He next halted military aid to the Saudi war in Yemen and rescinded the terrorist organization designation applied to the Houthis by President Trump, emboldening that group to step up their attacks on Saudi Arabia.
Travelers this summer may get a preview of what Biden’s anti-oil policies will come to mean for their pocketbooks. Right out of the gate, Biden curtsied to the climate warriors by canceling the Keystone Pipeline and, more consequentially, pausing the leasing of federal lands for oil and gas development. Federal lands account for about 22 percent of U.S. oil production.
Oil companies have thousands of leases that they have not done anything with. They have not even re-opened the oil rigs that were closed due to the drop in demand during the pandemic.
Biden did not cancel the deal with the UAE. He suspended it for review but approved it in April. The UAE decided to postpone the deal. If the Houthis are such a threat then why did Trump wait until Jan 11 , which was 8 days before he left office, to make the designation? Yemen desperately needs aid as the country faces massive starvation.