From Watts Up With That?

CNN Credits Biden for Record High US Oil Production

CNN’s Matt Egan must be a very special kind of stupid…

Under Biden, US oil production is poised to break Trump-era records

By Matt Egan, CNN Business

Published 1:30 PM EDT, Wed August 9, 2023

New York CNN Business — 

Critics accuse President Joe Biden of waging a war on the oil industry that is hurting consumers at the gas pump. And yet, on his watch, US oil production is poised to shatter all-time records set during the Trump administration.

US oil output is now projected to rise to an average of 12.8 million barrels per day this year for the first time ever, according to federal estimates released Tuesday.

For context, that’s about half a million barrels per day more than the prior annual record set in 2019. It’s also more oil than any other country on the planet produces — the next-closest nation, Saudi Arabia, produces about 10 million barrels per day, according to OPEC.

The looming milestone undercuts the argument made by some 2024 GOP presidential contenders that the Biden administration is strangling the oil industry with red tape.

[…]

CNN

U.S. oil production is not “under Biden”… Not even the oil production from Federal lands and waters. Production from Federal lands and waters is conducted pursuant to Federal laws passed by Congress. While some think that Biden could halt all of that production with the stroke of the pen, I’m 99% certain the courts would slap him down fairly quickly.

“Critics accuse President Joe Biden of waging a war on the oil industry”

This has to be the stupidest thing ever written by a moronic journalist:

Critics accuse President Joe Biden of waging a war on the oil industry… The looming milestone undercuts the argument made by some 2024 GOP presidential contenders that the Biden administration is strangling the oil industry with red tape.

Matt Egan

The day before Matt Egan’s moronic article was published…

Biden: I Wanted ‘to Stop All Drilling’ on the Coasts and Gulf, Got Blocked by Courts

by IAN HANCHETT 8 Aug 2023

During an interview with The Weather Channel that is set to air on Wednesday, a portion of which aired on Tuesday, President Joe Biden said that he “wanted to stop all drilling on the East Coast and the West Coast and in the Gulf” but was blocked by the courts from doing so.

[…]

Breitbart

“Undercuts the argument… Biden… is strangling the oil industry with red tape”

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Biden maladministration settled a lawsuit with a group of Enivro-Marxist terrorist organizations. The settlement would remove about 11 million acres of prime offshore leases from future lease sales and place other restrictions on offshore oil & gas operations… All in the name of a fake whale species that didn’t exist two years ago and doesn’t even occupy the area being placed off limits.

Rice’s Whales are generally located in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, which has largely been off limits to oil & gas exploration for decades.

The proposed critical habitat area would essentially take the recently rejuvenated Flex Trend out of play.

Federal Register

Reprocessed Flex Trend data reveals near-field GoM potential

May 19, 2021

PGS has released more full integrity products from the Flex Vision data rejuvenation program in the Gulf of Mexico.

Offshore staff

OSLO, Norway – PGS has released more full integrity products from the Flex Vision data rejuvenation program in the Gulf of Mexico.

The application of new imaging technology to the Flex Trend has revealed near-field opportunities that boost potential far beyond original estimates, the company said.

New data unlocks opportunities adjacent to existing discoveries, to enable infrastructure-led exploration in an area of the Gulf of Mexico that has been producing oil and gas for more than two decades. Salt, the biggest challenge for exploration on the Flex Trend, is resolved with high-quality depth imaging and improved velocity control.

[…]

Offshore

Biden incorrectly claims he has declared a national emergency on climate

By Jeremy Diamond, CNN

Updated 2:34 PM EDT, Wed August 9, 2023

CNN — 

President Joe Biden incorrectly claimed in an interview with The Weather Channel that he has already declared a national emergency on the climate crisis.

“I’ve already done that,” Biden said when asked whether he intends to do declare a climate emergency. “We’ve conserved more land, we’ve rejoined the Paris Climate Accords, we’ve passed the $368 billion climate control facility. We’re moving. It is the existential threat to humanity.”

When pressed again on whether he had actually declared a national emergency, Biden said: “Practically speaking, yes.”

[…]

Climate advocacy groups are seizing on the moment and are pressing Biden to actually declare an emergency.

[…]

Other groups, including the climate group coalition People vs. Fossil Fuels – which represents over 1,200 groups, released a statement saying Biden should “follow through on his rhetoric” by declaring a national emergency that could further speed up deploying clean energy and halting fossil fuel production.

“Now that President Biden says he’s ‘practically’ declared a climate emergency, it’s time to do it for real,” People vs. Fossil Fuels, a coalition of over 1,200 groups, said in their statement.

CNN

“It’s time to do it for real…”

US oil output is now projected to rise to an average of 12.8 million barrels per day this year for the first time ever, according to federal estimates released Tuesday.

Matt Egan

While all this is going on, Biden and his enablers appear to be poised to declare a climate emergency, which allegedly could lead to this:

If Biden declares a ‘Climate Emergency,’ he would seize 130 new powers – Seeks repeat of COVID-style lockdowns with bypassing of democracy – Morano Responds

After declaring a national climate emergency, the president can suspend the operations of all offshore leases. This will stop extraction in the more than 11 million acres of federal waters currently subject active oil and gas leases…

Center for Biological Absurdity, February 2022

While I don’t think Biden could legally do this… If he did, it would immediately shut in about 1.8 million barrels per day of oil production… Which would see the largest single-year drop in US crude oil production and it literally would be “under Biden.”

If this nightmare scenario came to pass, I wonder if Matt Egan would write an article with this headline:

Under Biden, US oil production posts single largest annual decline ever recorded!

This would shatter the previous record, when crude oil production declined by just under 1 million barrels per day during the shamdemic.

Shamdemic 2.0?

Will Climate Lockdowns Be Necessary to Fight the Climate Crisis?

At the beginning of COVID-19, lockdowns were necessary to fight the deadly virus. To lower emissions, another type of lockdown might need to be used: Climate lockdowns.

BY RAYNA SKIVER

JAN. 17 2023

At the beginning of COVID-19, lockdowns were a necessary tool for fighting off and controlling the deadly virus. People stayed inside — we went to the store less, didn’t go out to eat, and entertained ourselves at home all to avoid exposure to other people.

And for a minute, the Earth started to reflect those actions. Emissions started decreasing and it seemed that something positive was emerging out of a negative situation. This experience raises the question: Would climate lockdowns help us tackle the climate crisis?

[…]

According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a climate lockdown would entail the government taking other actions aside from asking people to stay at home. Limiting private vehicle use, banning the consumption of red meat, imposing intense energy-saving actions, and putting an end to fossil fuel drilling, are all examples of potential measures to be taken during a climate lockdown.

[…]

Green Matters

Does anyone doubt that this is exactly what these lunatics want to do?

Equivalent of Covid emissions drop needed every two years – study

Equivalent falls in emissions over a decade required to keep to safe limits of global heating, experts say

Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent

Wed 3 Mar 2021 11.00 EST

Carbon dioxide emissions must fall by the equivalent of a global lockdown roughly every two years for the next decade for the world to keep within safe limits of global heating, research has shown.

Lockdowns around the world led to an unprecedented fall in emissions of about 7% in 2020, or about 2.6bn tonnes of CO₂, but reductions of between 1bn and 2bn tonnes are needed every year of the next decade to have a good chance of holding temperature rises to within 1.5C or 2C of pre-industrial levels, as required by the Paris agreement.

Research published on Wednesday shows that countries were beginning to slow their rates of greenhouse gas emissions before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, but not to the levels needed to avert climate breakdown. Since lockdowns were eased in many countries last year, there have been strong signs that emissions will rise again to above 2019 levels, severely damaging the prospects of fulfilling the Paris goals.

[…]

The Grauniad