(JustPatriots.com)- Just days after the Biden Administration lifted sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the US Department of the Interior announced that it will be returning to the Obama-era enforcement of offshore drilling waiver rules.
This decision came thanks to pressure from environmental groups who alleged that the Trump Administration’s waiver rules changes relied on criteria not publicly available.
In 2019 the environmental group Healthy Gulf sued the Trump Administration over its waiver rules. And this week, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement sent a letter to Healthy Gulf to let them know the Biden Interior Department remains committed to the Obama Administration practice of approving waivers on a case-by-case basis.
One of the rules waived by the Trump Administration that Healthy Gulf objected to was the “Well Control Rule” which Healthy Gulf claimed was one of the few regulations in place to prevent another spill like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.
In 2019 when announcing the waiver rules, former Trump Interior Secretary David Bernhardt explained that the objective was to remove unnecessary regulatory burdens while at the same time maintaining safety and environmental protections in offshore drilling.
During the Trump Administration, for the first time in history, the US became energy independent. Energy prices were steadily declining and the US became a major exporter of natural gas.
In four short months, the Biden Administration has taken a number of steps to roll back the achievements that ushered in this energy boom — from shutting down the Keystone pipeline to placing a freeze on federal oil and gas leases to reinstating onerous regulations.
The results of the Biden Administration’s actions were immediate as gas and energy prices quickly began to rise.
Biden’s foreign policy decisions have compounded the problem as well. In its desire to reopen negotiations with Iran, the Biden Administration began to alienate Saudi Arabia.
Biden’s decision to halt Saudi military aid in its proxy war with Iran in Yemen while also removing the terrorist designation the Trump Administration placed on the Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis only increased tensions between Saudi Arabia and the US.
In the wake of these actions, in March Saudi Arabia announced it not would raise oil output despite growing supply constraints and rising prices. Naturally oil prices surged after the news.
In 2012, Barack Obama suffered his most significant drop in support when gas prices dramatically spiked. No doubt with the return to Obama-era energy policies, Joe Biden will also find himself suffering the same fate.
