Letter to the Editor: Commonsense Energy

As the oil markets adjust for the Ukraine/Russia supply disruptions, gasoline prices have reduced. Homeowner propane and natural-gas prices continue to climb to adjust for the lag in market pricing. I expect oil pricing to settle at $80-$100 per barrel, with gasoline staying in the mid- to high $4 per gallon range – still more than double the $2.12 cost on Election Day 2020.

Climate-change extremists don’t want to relate these cost increases to government policies. President Biden declared war on fossil fuels on his first day in office, signing executive orders to stop pipelines, adding regulations, refusing new leases and increasing production costs. I and others believe this had an immediate effect on gas prices, and oil producers and refiners quit making new investments – something that hurts now but will be more severe in the future.

Green energy always sounds good, but solar and wind remain expensive and unreliable until we develop energy-storage technology. Biofuels have been a major disappointment. U.S. nuclear energy is expensive. Fossil fuels have to bridge the 10- to 30-year energy gap until we find alternative energy sources that are reasonably priced and reliable.

President Biden’s recent policy proposed shipping Saudi oil tankers to the U.S., despite oil tankers being major polluters. Alternatively, President Biden could end his war on domestic oil and gas and use U.S. fuel transported by pipeline, with almost no carbon footprint, to modern refineries in the U.S.

Will someone please explain how drilling U.S. oil and transporting it in pipelines to U.S. refineries is not environmentally acceptable? Explain why buying oil from countries with poor environmental controls is better for the environment? Why that’s better than using our supplies of oil and creating high-paying U.S. jobs?

I see nothing environmental about this recent climate-change policy. Instead, let’s get energy policies so Americans can afford energy, create new jobs and promote best environmental practices. It may mean delaying the hopes of the climate-change extremists until we make major technical/economic advances with “green” energy.

Michael Clumpner

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin