webodec3ARCHIVEPreview
Open in TheBrain

Gas Price 2 Bak Drill Gasoline

maybe belated but prez does not have much control of economy (the fed in theory indep and no magic knob?)

10 22 primary report // pres pop/favorable --> votes

see energy indep dominance BS

see urkraine watershed

see inflation

even less on gas prices (strat oil reserve relatively small)  but potent GOP stick

it's your god given tight as Merikan male to drive a really big truck as far as much as you want (but never anywhere near a bush that cd scratch paint]

https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/trump-biden-2655782871/

"attack" on oil reserves (shambolic but at least coord w/ other countries?)

---

-=-=

MMA

The prominent pro-Trump pundits who admit that the Iran war drove up gas prices — and have no regrets

Written by Zachary Pleat

Research contributions from John Whitehouse & Sage Hodil

Published 10/28/26

Gasoline and diesel prices remain elevated eight months into President Donald Trump’s unauthorized war against Iran. Right-wing media commentators, in the weeks leading up to the midterm elections, have returned to defending high gas prices as a worthwhile sacrifice to stop an Iranian nuclear program that they claimed in 2025 had been “obliterated” by U.S. airstrikes that June.

Weeks before the midterm elections, right-wing commentators argue the Iran war is worth the “sacrifice” of higher gas prices

Conservative radio host Larry Elder: “The question is real simple. … What kind of inflation would we have if Iran acquired a nuclear weapon and used it?” Elder added, “Inflation certainly is up,” noting that “almost all of it can be attributed to the Iran war.” He concluded: “It's a trade-off, like everything in life, a trade-off.” [Salem Radio Network, The Larry Elder Show, 10/20/26]

Fox host Sean Hannity on high gas prices: “We had an obligation not to hand off to our children and grandchildren … a radical regime” with “a nuclear weapon.” Hannity added, “I think that was imperative.” His guest Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) responded, “Amen.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/19/26]

The Gateway Pundit’s Wayne Allyn Root: “Years from now, we may all look back in history and see that Trump prevented World War III. … And all you sacrificed was a temporary rise in gas prices.” [The Gateway Pundit, War Zone LIVE! with Wayne Allyn Root, 10/19/26]

Newsmax guest host Christina Bobb: High gas prices are a “temporary problem that will ultimately allow the world to be a safer place.” She continued, “Trump says, if Iran had a nuclear weapon, they would use it. And he is making sure that is never a possibility.” [Newsmax, Finnerty, 10/16/26]

Fox contributor Marc Thiessen: Gas prices are “going up because of the war,” but “most people are patriots. They’re willing to sacrifice and pay a little bit more for gas in order to protect the national security of the country.” “It’s temporary,” Thiessen insisted. [Fox News Radio, The Brian Kilmeade Show, 10/9/26]

Thiessen: “President Trump is making the right case and going to the American people and saying, look, you're paying a little bit more for gas in order to stop a terrorist regime from getting a nuclear weapon.” Thiessen continued: “He needs to say that over and over again, because you're not going to wish away the effects of high gas prices. You have to explain to the American people — who are patriotic, and who love their country, and are willing to sacrifice for national security — why this is necessary, why it’s temporary, and how this is going to end.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 10/7/26]

On his radio show, Hannity said to a caller, “I don’t think the president had a choice” but to launch a war to prevent “a nuclear-armed Iran,” even though the U.S. “sacrificed a period with higher gas prices.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 10/5/26]

Right-wing media also insisted higher gas prices would be a temporary sacrifice during the earliest days of the war

Fox Business host Dagen McDowell and Fox anchor Martha MacCallum dismissed gas price spikes by invoking World War II rations. McDowell said: “I don't mean to belittle what people will experience when they go to fill up. … That pain will be felt by American drivers. But this is a, what will be, a temporary price shock, potentially, and it will cause demand destruction, where people maybe drive less.” She continued: “That being said, I will just repeat what my father would always say. People get upset about, you know, gas prices, and he would hold up the food rationing coupon book from World War II, and say, this is what we went through when our men and our boys were fighting for our freedom then.” MacCallum replied: “Nobody bought a new car for years during the war. And people would typically say, well, when the war is over, we'll do this or we'll do that. But they, you know, understood the big picture importance.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 3/6/26]

Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt to Democrats: “Y'all can chill out for a little bit. It's worth it because Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon now so this is the price we pay.” She added: “Oil prices have already gone back down. So, calm down, Democrats. It's going to be OK.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/10/26]

Fox host Emily Compagno: “The reality is that the numbers writ large show an escalating approval and a willingness to accept a short-term pain with oil, with gas for the long-term gain of stability and peace.” Co-host Harris Faulkner added, “You can't discount the public, but you know who really is manipulating them at this time? Any of those terror cells that we don’t know among us.” She continued: “It’s not just about the patience and the oil prices, it’s keeping us safe here at home.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 3/10/26]

Fox host Brian Kilmeade said Americans should tolerate high gas prices because doing so is a “sacrifice” and “ultimately, we'll be saving money in the big picture.” Kilmeade said: “I’m sure we will feel a little bit at the pump. But do you think that the American people should say OK, this is a sacrifice we have in the short term to ultimately take down the enemy of our country for the last 47 years, and ultimately, we'll be saving money in the big picture?” His guest, Heritage Foundation senior fellow Brent Sadler, replied: “Absolutely.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/11/26]

//

With no relief at the pump in sight, Fox clings to desperate closing argument on gas prices

10/23/26

Trump boosters tell Fox and Newsmax viewers to accept spiking gas prices as a “sacrifice” for his war against Iran

03/12/26

From tariffs to war, Fox demands Americans sacrifice their well-being for Trump's agenda

04/08/2

-=-=

-=-=

MMA

Newsmax host Greg Kelly: “These are exciting times. There’s no reason to feel down. We are winning in Iran. Gas prices were higher under George W. Bush 20 freaking years ago! It is amazing what they have pulled off.”

09/18/26

Fox & Friends keeps pushing Trump to expand the Iran war to Yemen

09/18/26

MAGA media's broken promises about higher gas prices

09/18/26

-=-=

---

[### Trump just declared an 'energy emergency.' Here's what it ...

The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com › 2025/01/20 › trump...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/01/20/trump-day-one-executive-orders-energy/)

2 days ago — In a Day 1 executive order, President Donald Trump withdrew from the landmark climate accord. Additional orders on energy are expected.

NO LNX WAPO

Trump just declared an ‘energy emergency.’ Here’s what it means.

In Day 1 executive orders, President Donald Trump withdrew from the landmark climate accord and pushed to dismantle his predecessor’s environmental agenda.

January 20, 2025

By Maxine Joselow, Chico Harlan and Evan Halper

During his first moments as the nation’s 47th president Monday, Donald Trump moved to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement, boost domestic fossil fuel production and reverse many of former president Joe Biden’s signature efforts to combat climate change and other pressing environmental problems.

The flurry of executive orders drew cheers from the fossil fuel industry but raised fears among U.S. allies about the future of global climate initiatives. The United States ranks as the largest historical emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gases, and its exit from the Paris accord threatens to derail emissions-cutting efforts during a critical four-year period.

Nations pledged in 2015 to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels — a crucial threshold for averting the most catastrophic climate impacts. But scientists recently confirmed that 2024 was the first year to surpass this threshold — and the hottest year on record.

Trump signed an executive order pulling out of the Paris climate accord during an event with supporters at Capital One Arena in D.C. He slammed the accord as “unfair” and “one-sided,” prompting loud applause from the crowd.

Later on Monday in the Oval Office, Trump signed additional executive orders declaring a “national energy emergency,” boosting oil and gas drilling in Alaska, “unleashing American energy” and stopping new offshore wind projects in federal waters. It was not immediately clear what government actions the energy emergency would entail, although Trump allies have suggested it could allow federal agencies to quickly approve pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure deemed important to national security.

In the orders, Trump directed agencies to review dozens of Biden’s environmental policies and, if possible, quickly reverse them. He instructed the Energy Department to end the Biden administration’s pause on approving new facilities that export liquefied natural gas, and he instructed the Interior Department to lift restrictions on oil and gas drilling across millions of acres of federal lands in Alaska, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump declared in his second inaugural address Monday, adding that the United States has “the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it.” (In fact, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia have the biggest oil reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.)

It is common for presidents to sign executive orders on their first day that reverse some of their predecessors’ decisions. But the contrast between Biden’s climate legacy and Trump’s energy agenda is particularly pronounced, heralding a seismic shift in policy across the federal government.

Some of the steps outlined in Trump’s executive orders, such as ending the pause on new LNG exports, will take effect immediately. Other efforts, such as rewriting complicated regulations, could take months or even years.

For instance, it could take years for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department to weaken fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, which Biden strengthened. Though Trump has described these rules as an “electric vehicle mandate,” they do not ban the sale of new vehicles powered by gasoline or diesel.

In some cases, market forces could have a greater impact on the nation’s energy landscape than the new administration’s policies. The price of oil, for instance, tends to dictate companies’ decisions about major new investments in drilling and refining.

Trump had made no secret of his energy agenda for his first day in office, frequently boasting about his plans after his November victory over Biden.

“I will sign Day One orders to end all Biden restrictions on energy production, terminate his insane electric vehicle mandate, cancel his natural gas export ban, reopen [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] in Alaska — the biggest site, potentially anywhere in the world — and declare a national energy emergency,” Trump said in December.

Former North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick for interior secretary and “energy czar,” also suggested during his confirmation hearing Thursday that the incoming administration could consider declaring an energy emergency because of soaring electricity demand.

“This is part of a larger crisis our nation is facing around electricity,” Burgum told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The energy emergency declaration relies heavily on concerns about the nation’s power grid not being able to keep up with surging demand, particularly from tech companies developing artificial intelligence. It stresses that the nation’s “ability to remain at the forefront of technological innovation” requires more energy.

In a call with reporters Monday morning, officials with the incoming administration stressed that the order is focused, in part, on keeping the United States ahead of China in the AI arms race.

The tech companies building these data centers had initially planned to power them solely with clean energy. But new wind and solar generation is not keeping up with the needs of the immense AI infrastructure, and tech companies are routinely being told their projects will have to wait years to come online.

Pulling out of Paris again

Among Trump’s initial climate moves, the decision to exit the Paris agreement stands as the most internationally consequential, reinforcing a sense that the United States is an unreliable partner in the global effort to reduce emissions. That sense had been growing even before Trump’s election, as the United States expanded its oil and gas production after joining other nations in pledging to phase out fossil fuels.

“We are back to countries performing actions in their narrow, short-term interests,” said Li Shuo, director of the China climate program at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “That will inform the judgment of all the other political capitals in the world that the zeitgeist of global climate action is not where it should be.”

In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern over Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement.

“Climate change is a common challenge faced by all of humanity. No country can stand apart from it or stay unaffected,” said Guo Jiakun, the ministry’s spokesman. “Upholding the concept of a shared future for mankind, China will work with all parties to actively tackle the challenges of climate change and jointly advance the global transition toward a green and low-carbon [future],” Guo said at a press briefing Tuesday.

Though Trump announced a similar action in 2017, at the start of his first term, the circumstances then were different: A rule stated that parties could withdraw from the accord, which came into force in 2016, only once it was three years old. Because the withdrawal process takes a year, the United States technically remained a member of the agreement until Nov. 4, 2020 — one day after voters awarded the presidency to Biden.

This time, the United States will be able to exit the accord more quickly. And the move will come at a perilous time for global climate efforts.

Right-wing parties, particularly in Europe, are gaining traction by pushing back against green policies. Wealthy countries are falling well short in financing climate-related projects in poorer nations, swelling a sense of injustice between the Global North and Global South — and leaving some countries worried about the viability of future global negotiations.

“A lot of countries could use [the U.S. exit] as an excuse to do little,” said Linda Kalcher, a former U.N. climate adviser and the founder of Strategic Perspectives, a Brussels-based climate policy group.

At the same time, many countries see an economic case for the clean-energy transition — and a political opportunity to fill a power vacuum.

China might have the most to gain, policymakers and experts predict. Already, China’s share of global solar panel manufacturing exceeds 80 percent. And Chinese-made EVs are surging in competition against those of American and European automakers. The United States’ withdrawal from the Paris accord could further cement a perception of Beijing as the superpower that can help the world cope with climate perils.

When Trump pulled out of the Paris agreement the first time, a group called America is All In announced that dozens of states, cities and corporations were still committed to the pact. Gina McCarthy, the former White House climate czar under Biden and the managing co-chair of America is All In, promised in a statement to continue that fight.

“Our states, cities, businesses, and local institutions stand ready to pick up the baton of U.S. climate leadership and do all they can — despite federal complacency — to continue the shift to a clean energy economy,” she said.

an 7 24

MAGA fumes over report 4th of July gas prices lowest in 3 years: 'Why is CBS campaigning for Biden?'

6 24

mma

in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, right-wing media are doubling down on deceptive messaging around gas prices to attack President Joe Biden — in part by promoting a campaign launched by Americans for Prosperity, the fossil fuel billionaire Koch brothers' conservative political advocacy group.

//

Right-wing media used OPEC oil cuts to blame Biden for domestic gas price volatility

10/24/22

  1. ### Fox News attacks Biden for “surging” gasoline prices as they fall for 27th consecutive day

07/11/22

  1. ### Fox News accusing the Biden administration of deliberately spiking gas prices represents a cynical narrative escalation

06/16/22

---

mma 3 24

in a March 13 segment on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Senior Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake explained how Trump’s use of the campaign slogan “drill, baby, drill” points to a nonexistent problem pushed by right-wing media, namely that the U.S. is not producing enough energy.

In the segment, Haake points out, “The United States is producing more oil and gas right now than any other country has in the history of the world. We are producing more. We are importing less.”

Video

CitationFrom the March 13, 2024, edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe

On March 11, Trump posted to his Truth Social account, “My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!”

This isn’t the first time Trump has listed oil and gas development as a top priority. As reported by The Washington Post, in February, Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, “There are two things I’m going to do. Number one is drill, baby drill.”

But as Haake pointed out, Trump would not actually be inheriting an energy crisis, despite the messaging that both his party and right-wing media have espoused. Fox News personalities have falsely claimedthroughout the Biden administration that President Joe Biden’s policies are making the U.S. “energy dependent” on foreign countries — particularly when it comes to oil — and that the administration is cutting production of energy.

“I think it's an attempt to kind of connect the inflation issue to something that, you know, voters — Republican voters, base voters — have known for a long time, this desire to increase energy production going back to 2008, 2009, 2010,” Haake said of Trump’s fixation on “drill, baby, drill.”

The slogan originated in 2008, prior to the shale boom, and was used by Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Sixteen years later, the energy landscape looks very different. The U.S. has been exporting more energy than it imports since 2019, though it still does, and likely always will, import some energy from abroad.

Scientists have said that in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, countries would have to start phasing out fossil fuels immediately. With current energy policies in place, global average temperatures are predicted to cross that threshold within the next decade.

//America is producing more energy than ever, but Fox News is attacking Biden over it anyway

03/07/24

  1. ### Fox News pushes “energy independence” 329 times in first two weeks of Russia’s war in Ukraine, shaping coverage of energy policy on cable news

03/11/22

==

---

11 23 mma

Third Republican presidential debate illustrated that Fox News' relentless misinformation about the Green New Deal and Keystone Pipeline is still paying dividends

Special PROGRAMSCLIMATE & ENERGY

WRITTEN BY ALLISON FISHER

PUBLISHED 11/09/23

During the third Republican presidential debate, candidates invoked the “Green New Deal” and the “Keystone pipeline” — both staples of Fox News’ misleading coverage of climate and energy issues — in response to the moderators' questions around the Venezuelan regime and the rising cost of living in the U.S.

Through Fox’s relentless coverage of the Green New Dealbeginning in 2019, the proposal has become synonymous on the right with socialism and often misapplied to any climate policy.

Similarly, Fox has made the canceled Keystone pipeline a symbol of Biden’s energy policy, which the network has blamed for rising gas prices, and falsely claimed constructing the pipeline would make the U.S. energy-independent or less vulnerable to the global crude oil market.

The moderators' handling of these right-wing media canards was mixed – and it suggests legacy media need to be better prepared to counter these false right-wing media narratives as the election season moves into full swing.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mischaracterized Biden’s climate agenda as the Green New Deal

After regularly attacking the Green New Deal since its introduction in 2019, Fox News spread the bad will it had engendered against the proposal to other climate policies, using the name to label and attack any and all climate action. This included a failed Senate coronavirus relief vote in March of 2020, the modest climate plan President Joe Biden announced in July 2020, the American Jobs Plan introduced in April 2021, and, more recently, the Inflation Reduction Act.

During the November 8 debate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed suit:

KRISTEN WELKER (MODERATOR): Many Venezuelan immigrants are settling right here in Florida. Former President Trump and President Biden have taken different approaches to Nicolas Maduro's regime with little result. Former President Trump put economic pressure on Venezuela and backed one of Maduro's rivals. President Biden temporarily eased sanctions to encourage electoral reforms. Gov. Desantis, do you see the political situation in Venezuela as a threat to the United States? And what would your approach be?

GOV. RON DESANTIS: We should never rely on Venezuela for oil like Biden has had to go beg. I am going to unleash all of America's energy potential. On day one I'm taking all the Biden regulations, the Green New Deal, ripping it up, and throwing it in the trash can where it belongs. We're going to lower your gas prices. We're going to create jobs. We’re going to lower energy costs. But we're also going to be more energy independent and secure. … That is good for America's national security. Biden's Green New Deal, that's good for Venezuela. It's good for Russia, it's good for Iran, and it's good for China.

:{:{Video}:

CitationFrom the Republican Presidential Debate aired on NBC on November 8, 2023

Welker failed to challenge DeSantis on his inaccurate characterization of Biden’s climate plan. That plan is mostly encapsulated in the Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated a historic $369 billion in climate and energy provisions. Since its passage, 272 clean energy projects have been announced in the United States, representing $278 billion in new investment and creating 170,606 new jobs, according to Climate Power. (Notably, the majority of IRA credits and loans are benefiting red congressional districts, per an analysis by Politico.)

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said he’d “sign the XL Keystone Pipeline”

For years, Fox News hosts, anchors, and guests have touted the Keystone XL pipeline as a solution to domestic high gas prices and global energy insecurity, despite multiple fact checks to the contrary.

LESTER HOLT (MODERATOR): This is a question that will go to all of you. An Iowa voter recently told NBC News, ‘How I am going to make sure my pantry's stocked without breaking the bank?’ You've all said the best way to deal with rising prices is to cut government spending, but that would take time to play out, and Americans are struggling right now. Sen. Scott, I'll start with you. What would you do the moment you take office to help Americans manage the cost of living? So we're talking about short-term here.

SEN. TIM SCOTT: My mother was a single mother who raised me and my brother in a very challenging economic situation. The first thing I can tell you is that when your gas prices are 40% higher right now than they were just a little over two years ago, that's not a problem for my momma — that was a crisis. The first thing I would do as president of the United States is I would sign the XL Keystone pipeline and start seeing resources flow. Second thing I would do is make sure there is certainty and predictability so that those folks who have the leases in our country would have the certainty and predictability to go ahead and become energy independent.

:{:{Video}:

CitationFrom the Republican Presidential Debate aired on NBC on November 8, 2023

Moderator Lester Holt did follow up and challenged Scott on the idea that the pipeline would have any impact on current gas prices, noting, “Your time is up. But let me follow up. The idea of pumping gas, of turning on pipelines, that doesn't make gas cheaper that day.”

Indeed, not only was the pipeline only 8% complete when Biden revoked its permits, but the company building the pipeline officially abandoned the project in June of 2021, so there’s no project to “sign.” And even if the project weren’t dead, as proposed it would have threatened thedrinking waterof indigenous communities whose land the pipeline would cross, and it would have had enormous implications for the climate; renowned climate scientists James Hansen called the project “game over”for the climate.

Both DeSantis and Scott made misleading claims about gas prices and energy independence that reflect Fox News coverage

DeSantis suggested his plan would lower gas prices and make the U.S. more energy independent while Scott, in addition to falsely suggesting that the Keystone XL pipeline would lower gas prices, also claimed that more drilling was needed to make the U.S. energy independent.

None of the moderators challenged candidates' claims around energy independence or the idea that U.S. gas prices can be decoupled from the global market (another staple of Fox News’ energy coverage). The price consumers pay at the pump is determined by the cost of oil, which is tied to the global market and therefore inherently vulnerable to global disruptions, so the idea of achieving energy independence through fossil fuels is a fallacy.

Further, one definition of “energy independence” is exporting more energy than a country imports, and the U.S. has been a total net exporter of energy since 2019. According to the U.S. Energy Information Association, in 2022, U.S. total energy exports were the highest on record, and domestic oil production hit an all-time high last month.

Four years after Fox started pushing its misleading “Green New Deal” and “Keystone XL Pipeline” narratives, the misinformation persists, illustrating the network’s role in shaping the debate around energy and climate issues and the necessity of its media counterparts challenging Fox’s misinformation.

---

---

https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/right-wing-media-used-opec-oil-cuts-blame-biden-domestic-gas-price-volatility

mma 10 22

On October 5, OPEC [saudi?] and non-OPEC allies decided to impose cuts on oil production despite the fact that they were cautioned against doing so by the United States. The cartel will cut 2 million barrels, a move that could further elevate gas prices in the lead-up to midterm elections. To help ease the impact of the cuts, President Joe Biden, during remarks on gas prices and energy security delivered on October 19, announced a 3 point plan to address rising costs and global oil supplies, including the release of 15 million barrels of oilfrom the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Biden also called for oil companies to increase production instead of buying back stocks and paying dividends to their shareholders, and warned these companies not to gouge gas prices as the cost of oil comes down. 

Fox has painted Biden as chiefly responsible for rising gas prices in a ploy to hurt Democratic candidates in the final weeks of midterm campaigning. Other right-wing media outlets and personalities have followed suit, and criticism has been magnified by a claim made on October 12 by Saudi Arabia’s ministry of foreign affairs saying that Biden asked OPEC to postpone the oil cuts for a month.

In response, right-wing media is using the same playbook and the same series of debunked arguments and disinformationfrom earlier in the year when Russia first invaded Ukraine and global energy security became a concern.

Right-wing media is once again misleading voters about how the global energy market works to push a pro-fossil fuel agenda.

Conservative media outlets are pushing the idea that drastically increasing oil production in the U.S. is a quick and common-sense solution to the problem of high gas prices because it would allow the U.S. to be “energy independent," a term experts have pointed out is widely misunderstood. The U.S. has imported oil for decades and will continue to do so for economic reasons. Importing and exporting some energy is necessary to meet the needs of the market. In that sense, we will probably never be truly energy independent in a fossil fuel economy. If we understand energy independence to mean the U.S. exports more energy than we import, that is still the case. In fact, by this standard, U.S. energy independence reached its peak in 2021 when Biden was president. 

Right-wing media push pro-industry talking points claiming that U.S. oil producers are hindered from drilling, blame elevated gas prices solely on decisions made by Biden

Gas prices have been elevated by increased demand following the easing of pandemic restriction and by oil supply disruptions created by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Prices dipped slightly toward the end of the summer, only to rise in late September, but are currently on the downtrend once again. Aside from OPEC’s recent decision to cut supply, a refinery fire in the Midwest and facility maintenance on the West Coast have reduced inventories to record lows, and a looming European ban on Russian oil, which will take effect in December, is also contributing to price increases. 

The U.S. oil industry is not being hampered by the Biden administration, as it has claimed to evade blame.In March, CEOs of major oil producers stated that they were not planning on investing in any new drilling due to pressure from investors for bigger shareholder returns. To be sure, the current climate of increased demand and global supply disruptions caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine has increased the price of oil, lavishing these companies with record profits while U.S. and global consumers have been hurt by high energy costs.In fact, U.S. oil producers are sitting on 9,000 unused drilling leases for public lands, and while right-wing media push the industry claim that Biden is suppressing domestic production, U.S. oil production on public lands is near all-time highs and is on track for record output in 2023.

Right-wing media attack Biden for Strategic Petroleum Reserve use, foreign oil imports, and efforts to stabilize global oil supply

To help manage global oil prices, Biden began releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in March. The latest release of 15 million barrels, announced on October 19, is the last of those planned releases. Right-wing media have suggested that drawing down the reserve makes the U.S. vulnerable to other disasters where the reserve would be needed to shore up supplies while doing nothing to address gas prices. As it stands, the reserves are still more than half full. The move has modestly lowered gas prices, however, experts agree it is not a long-term solution. Biden is also considering easing sanctions on Venezuela for Chevron to resume pumping oil there, allowing the country to export to U.S. and European markets.

Right-wing media has disingenuously argued that getting oil from Venezuela would be more environmentally damaging than producing more oil in the U.S., thus, increasing production domestically would be the more ethical choice. This is a common fossil fuel industry talking point that bad actors use to encourage long-term investments in expanding domestic production, meant to delay an economy-wide transition to renewable energy and ensure that we are reliant on fossil fuels for decades to come. This would be the worst possible outcome for the environment. The same individuals who praise the U.S. for having such “clean” energy production compared to other countries are also fighting against regulations implemented by the Biden administration that are meant toprotect vulnerable communities and hold the industry accountable for the extensive damage it will inevitably cause to ecosystems, the climate, and public health.

Right-wing media claims Biden’s negotiations to keep OPEC+ from cutting oil supply are politically motivated and even impeachable

Despite negotiations with Biden to keep oil supplies stable, OPEC+ announced on October 5 that it would cut its oil supply by 2 million barrels a day in an attempt to push the price to $100 a barrel. The White House has called the move shortsighted, while analysts have noted that it benefits Russia and could push the global economy closer to recession. Some early right-wing reactions suggested that Biden — who in response to OPEC’s decision signaled thepossibility of more releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — only cared about gas prices rising because of the looming midterms elections.

On October 12, in a rare statement to U.S. media, the Saudi government echoed these sentiments by claiming that Biden asked them to delay the cuts by one month – creating a feedback loop between right-wing media and the Saudi royal family. The White House has disputed these claims.

---

aha earth2 facts do not matter, reductionism; a kind of leverage for gop in that inordinate effect for tiny effort [gop legacy as good on biz?]

an ah 10 22

YIKES  2nd strategy res weeks before midterms

With the United States seeing its worst inflation since the early 1980s, Republicans are blaming President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party — and failing to mention that inflation isn’t just a problem in the U.S., but is a global problem. Some European countries have higher inflation rates than the U.S.; the EU’s inflation rate was 10.9 percent in September compared to 8.2 percent in the U.S.

Americans are especially resentful of high gas prices — an issue that, according to various polls, is a higher priority for some Americans than protecting democracy. Liberal economist andNew York Timescolumnist Paul Krugman, in his October 20 column, argues that it is “ludicrous and terrifying” that gas prices could determine whether or not the U.S. continues to be a democracy.

:{:{}:

“Will the price of gasoline — a price that has very little to do with which party controls the government — nonetheless determine the outcome of the midterm elections, and quite possibly the fate of American democracy?” Krugman writes. “I wish that were a silly question, but it isn’t. This year, there has been a strong correlation between the price of gasoline and political polls.”}:

READ MORE: Wages are dampening inflation, not supercharging it

Krugman continues, “Earlier this year, when gas reached an average of $5 a gallon, everything seemed to point to a Republican blowout. By mid-September, with gas prices down almost $1.50, the election looked much more competitive.And some apparent recent deterioration in Democrats’ prospects coincided with an upward tick in prices in late September and early October.”

The economist goes on to make some “important points about gasoline prices.”

“First,” Krugman writes, “the most important determinant of prices at the pump is the world price of crude oil, over which the United States has little influence…. Second, smaller fluctuations are usually driven by technical issues at the refineries that turn crude oil into gasoline and other products. The mini-surge in gas prices that began in September, and now seems to be over, was caused by shutdowns of several refineries for maintenance and a fire at one refinery in Ohio. Again, this has nothing to do with policy.”

:{:{}:

Krugman adds that in 2022, gas “isn’t expensive compared with the fairly recent past.”

“It’s hard to think of a worse metric for judging a president and his party than a price determined mainly by events abroad and technical production issues here at home, a price that isn’t even high compared with, say, a decade ago,” Krugman argues. “Yet gas prices may sway a crucial election — a fact that is both ludicrous and terrifying.”}:

READ MORE: Pete Buttigieg torches those who criticized Joe Biden for rising gas prices

---

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-attacks-biden-surging-gasoline-prices-they-fall-27th-consecutive-day

---

an 7 22

Fox News hosts complained on Monday's edition of America Reports that gas prices are declining too quickly, despite having sung with the chorus of conservatives across the country that has been demanding that President Joe Biden do everything in his power to ease the pain at the pump.

Congressional Republicans in May unanimously voted against legislation that would have curtailed price gouging by fossil fuel producers.

But for Fox and its right-wing audience, all is still bad, even as consumers finally get a break.

READ MORE: [Robert Reich outlines three ways Democrats can lower gas prices

"I was at a lacrosse tournament up in Wilmington, Delaware over the weekend. In Delaware and Northern Maryland, regular gas is anywhere from about $4.55 to $4.80 a gallon, so the price is beginning to creep back down," host John Roberts said.

Anchor Martha MacCallum then chimed in, opining that lower costs of fuel are bad for "mom-and-pop" gas station owners.

"It is, it is, and the point was made over the weekend – I believe it wasThe Wall Street Journal–that gas prices are actually coming back down historically faster with the price of oil than usual, and it just goes to show you what an incredible risk/reward calculation has to happen on the part of those small, independently-owned, most of them, mom-and-pop gas stations. It's a struggle for all of them," said MacCallum.

"Yeah, still a long way from $3.55 a gallon, but maybe some movement in that direction," Roberts remarked.

READ MORE: 'The absolute worst excuse': Kevin McCarthy roasted for blaming gas prices on the January 6th investigation

Watch here via The Daily Beast's Justin Baragona.

In his report in The Daily Beast, Baragona noted that "according to both GasBuddy and the American Automobile Association, the price average national price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas has dropped nearly 40 cents since hitting its peak of $5.02."

Baragona also pointed out that "the WSJ article that Smith referencedreported that gasoline prices quickly falling is 'creating new headaches for the mom-and-pop entrepreneurs and other independent operators who run roughly half of U.S. gas stations,' adding that station owners risk 'losing money on every new fuel order' they place."

---

---

gas prices decline for weeks?  7 22

https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/republicans-have-conveniently-ignored-jobs/

yell about gas and inflation, which pres has little control and has acted

trump boasted about tho due to BO policies? AA?

---

---

showed up in morano gmail ALERT? oh twt:

biden Energy Sec. Granholm triples down on ‘green’ as ‘the only way out’ of high gas prices | Climate Depot

:{:{}:

}:

:{:{}:

climatedepot.com

Biden Energy Sec. Granholm triples down on ‘green’ as ‘the only way out’ of high gas prices

By Bradford Betz FOXBusiness U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday warned that the nation would continue to feel the sting of price shocks if it

}:

am thinker no lnx twt

ujly 1, 2022

Biden administration tells Americans to suck it up on that $5 gas

By Monica Showalter

It's astonishing how out of touch the Joe Biden administration is with voters.  We're talking about tin ears, brains, and bodies.

A reporter asked a White House official about those soaring energy prices at the pump — the number-one issue occupying likely voters' attention, according to a recent Rasmussen poll — and got this:

How inspiring.  Seems that releasing the Strategic Petroleum Reserves did nothing to bring down high energy prices, and blaming Putin didn't resonate with the public.  So now it's the New World Order as the hill we die on.  Can you say "pathetic"?

It seemed to be part of a sync'd talking points memo that Joe and his pathetic minions all read from:

Thanks for volunteering us, Joe...

Some let us know what the Big Idea is with these no-end-in-sight soaring prices at the pump:

And the bottom line here is that it's not happening — there's no end in sight for soaring fuel prices, and there's certainly no greenie economy arising as a result of it — for this reason right here:

[Doctor: Painful Neuropathy Gone, Just Do This (Watch)

A Simple Method to Reduce Neuropathy (Watch)

Fossil fuel energy production is not only the driver of greenie energy; it itself is not exempt from inflationary pressures, given that producing fuel requires dollars, and the dollar is where the inflation is coming from.  Inflation is "always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon," to quote Milton Friedman, who's the master of the matter.  Biden would have you think that inflation derives from oil prices, and Vlad Putin somehow controls those prices based on our refusal to buy his oil (the Chicoms get it now), and Putin has driven oil prices higher just to be mean to us.

It's garbage.  Fact is, higher energy prices can be alleviated to some extent by permitting the production of more oil and natural gas as well as buying from Canada [tar sand? no rstrictions?] , instead of relying on expensive imports from overseas petro-tyrants, or by releasing the Strategic Petroleum Reserves, which is the Biden plan for the higher energy prices he's brought us.  His call to Americans to endure higher energy prices Because Putin is nothing short of outrageous.  What's more, even if he does manage to unhorse Putin, prices at the pump would not go lower.  Biden, after all, wants the higher oil prices — to convert the economy to greenie energy.  He can't let go of this bad idea.  He can reverse himself on a lot of policies but this one seems set in stone, and made worse by his failure to understand basic economics.

Issues & Insights has an excellent piece on the extent to which Biden has constrained U.S. energy production, leading to his administration's callous response to the number-one issue concerning voters:

And, no, it’s no exaggeration to call this a crisis. With consumer prices rising at a four-decade-high of 8.6% in the most recent year-over-year comparison, Americans are watching their standard of living fall fast.

A just-released national survey has found that 83% of U.S. households are cutting their personal spending and travel due to soaring inflation. These cutbacks are being driven almost entirely by energy costs, which have spiked nearly 35% in the past year.

The economic disaster Biden has created is ultimately a result of surging federal spending during the pandemic, foolish Fed policies that poured monetary gasoline onto a raging inflation fire, and the ongoing effort by Biden and the Democrats to punish the very companies that provide our energy, threatening them with smothering regulations, painful taxes and even public shaming.

Things have reached a fever pitch of late, with Democrats’ extremist anti-free-market green wing suggesting, as gasoline prices roar past $5 a gallon and cities across the nation face blackouts, we would all be better off if we just nationalized our oil and gas industry.

For the record, no we wouldn’t.

Bingo, bingo, bingo, and bingo.  The editorial completely grasps the nature of the Biden disaster on energy and why none of his proposed solutions — or coordinated spin — is working.

What we have here is an administration so wedded to itsgreenie agendathat it no longer recognizes even its own quest for political self-preservation.  Biden's minions cite grand plans for a New World Order and a greenie energy regimen as most important, while poor old stupid Joe can only chirp "Putin."

Voters are going to punish these clowns hard for this extended energy price surge, because it's a textbook failure worse than anything even Jimmy Carter could come up with.

Now they are promising more.  They just can't stop themselves.

Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/07/biden_administration_tells_americans_to_suck_it_up_on_that_5_gas.html#ixzz7YavQ8bfY

Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook

---

---

jrnl fail: 6 22

https://www.mediamatters.org/washington-post/newspaper-coverage-record-gas-prices-missing-important-context-big-oils-record

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/bernie-sanders-2657557605/

price gouging, windfall tax vs // biden fed gas tax 90 days

---

---

will be big/ decisive in midterms?!

edit b 6 22 longish

...These polls are a picture of systemic displeasure with a president who isn’t doing enough to bring down the price of gas, food, housing and more. Evidently, Joe Biden should have considered inflation before going off half-cocked in allied defense of Ukraine’s national sovereignty.

Democracy is great and all, but seriously.

Is it more important than cheap gas?

No, said Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan: “Real America [white people] doesn’t care about the January 6 committee. Gas is over $5 per gallon!”

To which we liberals say: no. Real Americans are all Americans, because all Americans have a stake in the continuation of this democratic republic.

---

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/critics-blast-republican-climate-agenda/

no lnx many no twt

'Poisoning our communities and cooking our planet': Critics blast 'destructive' Republican climate agenda

Matthew Rozsa.

Brett Wilkins and Common DreamsJune 02, 2022

Climate campaigners and progressive U.S. lawmakers reacted with disdain and derision Thursday to news that House Republicans would put forth a purported climate strategy that calls for increased fossil fuel production and sets no targets for reducing planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions.

:{:{}:

}:

Politico reports the "energy, climate, and conservation task force" created last year byHouse Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will release a six-point strategy that recommends increasing all types of energy production with the goal of reducing record-high fuel and other energy costs, and with an eye on the 2022 midterm elections.

The plan—which would also boost gas exports while easing the permitting process for fossil fuel infrastructure—contains six elements: "Unlock America's Resources," "Beat China and Russia," "Let America Build," "Build Resilient Communities," "American Innovation," and "Conservation with a Purpose."

While the U.S. Chamber of Commerce welcomed the proposal, Jamal Raad, executive director at the climate advocacy group Evergreen Action, blasted it as "little more than a how-to guide for accelerating the climate crisis."

Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement that "this climate plan sounds like it was concocted by a comic book supervillain."

"Republicans have managed to devise a scheme that would make climate change even more destructive," Hartl added. "It's an oil industry wish list that would throw future generations under the bus to make a buck."

The advocacy group Food & Water Action called the plan a "climate farce" and a "pro-fossil fuels road map to climate chaos."

"Over a dozen years ago, no one would have mistaken 'Drill, Baby, Drill' for serious climate policy," the group's managing director of policy Mitch Jones said in a statement referring to 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's infamous campaign slogan.

"The fact that Republicans have not changed course in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence and cascading climate-fueled disasters speaks volumes," Jones continued. "What's needed now are serious plans that meet the monumental scale of the crisis, and also deliver the economic benefits and job opportunities that are so desperately needed."

"We need to elect climate champions this year who will prioritize shifting off of dirty fossil fuels that poison communities and enrich corporate polluters," he added.

Those corporate polluters contribute tremendous amounts of campaign cash to congressional lawmakers and candidates. The House Oversight Committee noted last October that just four fossil fuel giants—BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell—plus the industry group American Petroleum Institute spent a combined $452.6 million lobbying the federal government since 2011.

According to the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, McCarthy has received nearly $2.1 in career oil and gas industry contributions. GOP task force chair Rep. Garret Graves—whose Louisiana district is one of the most fossil fuel infrastructure-intense in the nation and is experiencing climate-driven sea level rise and increased illness—has taken nearly $700,000 in Big Oil donations.

:{:{}:

}:

With $414,824 in campaign contributions during the 2022 election cycle alone, McCarthy is the House's leading beneficiary of oil and gas contributions, according to data from the watchdog group OpenSecrets.

In return, the government lavishes the fossil fuel industry with around $20 billion in annual subsidies,which Joe Biden promised to end while campaigning for president.

However, doing so would require congressional approval, and even members of his own party—notably Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Congress' number one recipient of fossil fuel contributions during the 2022 election cycle and the seven-figure beneficiary of a family coal business—are fighting to protect subsidies.

"Lining the pockets of fossil fuel companies is not a long-term fix; it puts American families' health and the future of the planet at risk," tweeted Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). "The cost of climate-fueled extreme weather events in the most recent year for which we have data was $100 billion."

"The solution is blindingly obvious: clean energy," he added. "The more we are able to shift to clean energy, the better it will be for our health, and the less dependent we will be on fossil fuels, and the less susceptible our economy and American families will be to oil price swings."

Raad of Evergreen Action asserted that "real and effective climate solutions are at our fingertips, but McCarthy and his caucus are so beholden to their donors in the fossil fuel industry that they'd rather double down on the technologies of the past that are poisoning our communities and cooking our planet."

"Every election year, Republicans in Congress try to greenwash their records to mislead voters who overwhelmingly support common-sense climate action—and every time they seize power, they stand in the way of real solutions and subsidize the industries that are fueling this crisis," he added. "This stunt is a not-even-thinly veiled attempt to bullshit the press and the public. It's time to stop falling for it."

---

facebook

graham franklin MRC and rowe

mma 6 22

no lnx many twt]

facebook failed to consistently label similar high-performing posts as “energy independence” misinformation

It’s clear these two posts breach Facebook’s fact-checking policy. However, our research identified 37 other posts earning 1.5 million combined interactions that made very similar statements regarding energy independence. None of these other posts were flagged with a missing-context label.

For example, on March 6, Fox News posted a graphic with a quote from Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), presented as fact. The post claims that Scott claimed the Biden administration is preventing the U.S. from being energy independent because it has considered the possibility of sourcing oil from Venezuela or Iran rather than increasing domestic drilling. Compared to Franklin Graham’s labeled post, this post is similarly misleading, pushing the same message about how the president’s energy policies have impacted energy independence. And yet, this post, which earned 55,000 interactions, has not received a label.

Fox News, Facebook, March 6, 2022 Energy Independence

Another example is a March 10 post from Mike Rowe. Rowe has hosted the TV series Six Degrees, which is sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute and contains fossil fuel propaganda in every episode. Rowe’s nonprofit has also received funding from Koch Industries. In the post, which accompanies a pro-fossil fuel episode of Rowe’s web series Good Questions, Rowe writes: “One minute, America was a net exporter of oil and natural gas. The next minute, we’re back to buying oil from despots and sheiks, with gas prices at an all-time high. Honest question - Why would we allow energy independence to slip through our fingers?”

Again, the post creates a misunderstanding of energy independence, suggesting that the U.S. cannot be energy independent while importing oil from other countries and that the U.S. is no longer a net exporter of energy. Both claims are false. This post earned 30,000 interactions. Even though the misinformation in Rowe’s post mirrors the misinformation in the other labeled posts, it lacks a fact-check label.

High gas prices have been a key driver of climate change and energy-related Facebook misinformation since 2021.

Media Matters found high gas prices have been a key driver of Facebook misinformation not just since Russia invaded Ukraine, but for the entire seven-month period Media Matters examined, starting September 2021. In total, 41 out of the top 100 posts were in response to the pain Americans are feeling at the pump and while buying everyday goods. These posts accounted for 1.8 million interactions.

The right has repeatedly blamed this crisis on various Biden administration policies despite a lack of evidence supporting that claim. The decision to cancel the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline was cited in 30 of the top 100 posts as a main culprit behind high gas prices. A March survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found that in reality, oil companies aren’t drilling because of pressure from investors to reliably return profits through dividends and stock buybacks instead of investing in new production. Biden also approved more permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in his first year than the Trump administration did in its first year. As for the Keystone XL pipeline extension, experts have pointed out that it would do virtually nothing to lower gas prices in the short term. Nonetheless, 34% of posts about high gas prices also argued for increased fossil fuel extraction, production, and infrastructure to further U.S. energy independence.

The right has consistently used loaded language like “energy independence” to defend fossil fuels despite their harmful impacts on human health, geopolitics, and the economy. Meanwhile, right-wing media and influencers spread misinformation about the viability of renewable energy, and even inaccurately blamed the shortcomings of fossil fuel infrastructure on wind energy during the Texas winter storm and power outages in February 2021. Understanding how the global energy market works could help media consumers understand that renewable energy can move the country closer to self-reliance, and that there is legislation moving with the aim of making that happen. As climate advocates have pointed out, transitioning to renewable energy is the only way for countries to achieve this sort of freedom from the fluctuations of the global fossil-fuel system in which we are deeply entrenched.

Even while Facebook managed to label 2 posts, these labels can only have a limited impact when they are so vastly outnumbered by disinformation across media. With midterm elections approaching, the Biden administration has broken a key climate campaign promise by reopening federal lands for new oil and gas drilling lease sales. The move is unlikely to help with high gas prices in the short term and is in direct conflict with the International Energy Agency’s pathway to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Voters must be equipped with accurate information about the conditions that created high gas prices. According to a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll, 71% of Americans blame Putin a “great deal” or a “good amount” for the increases in gas prices. However, the poll also found that 52% blame the price increases on Democratic Party policies, and 51% blame Biden. Facebook’s failure to uphold its own policies and crack down on misinformation is having real consequences and influencing how Americans view both this crisis and the role that fossil fuels should play in our economic future.

Methodology...

---

---

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-use-bidens-green-economy-comments-launch-full-scale-defense-fossil-fuels

at a joint press conference with the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on May 23, President Joe Biden was asked by a reporter if Americans should expect a recession as gas prices currently remain high. After initially responding that he did not think so — as the U.S. is growing economically and unemployment is at a pandemic low — Biden then noted that when it comes to gas prices, “we're going through an incredible transition that … when it's over, we'll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels.”

The mere suggestion that gas prices are helping drive the transition away from fossil fuels was enough to send right-wing media into a frenzy,illustrating both the utter contempt they hold for a future that is not dominated by polluting industries and their penchant for falsely claiming Biden is responsible for high gas prices.

Right-wing media predictably twisted Biden’s comments to advance their attacks on the Biden administration’s climate agenda

The right-wing media backlash to Biden’s comments was swift. Predictably, conservative outlets and commentators zeroed in on the “incredible transition” phrase and disregarded his other comments, where he noted his concern for high gas prices and laid out some of the things the administration is attempting to do to alleviate them, including a release from the strategic oil reserve.

One common line of attack suggests that Biden is somehow celebrating high gas prices. Articles published by the Murdoch-owned outlets New York Post and Foxnews.com, as well as The Washington Times, Breitbart, and The Federalist, ran with this framing that Biden is celebrating high gas prices. Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino also suggested this on Twitter. Meanwhile, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner also led viewers to this conclusion on the May 24 edition of The Faulkner Focus, stating that "President Biden is getting called out for appearing to cheer on the high gas prices. While he says it's an incredible transition that would likely be going green faster.”

The framing that the Biden administration is somehow celebrating high gas prices is not new. For example, on the May 20 edition of Fox News’ America Reports, Fox anchor John Roberts said that there is “a growing sense out there among some people … the White House and people on the left are looking at these gas prices going, ‘This is great because it’s going to push people into the green energy sector. It’s going to get people buying electric cars.’”

Earlier, on the April 1 edition of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight, host Tucker Carlson had pushed a conspiracy theory that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is an excuse for the Biden administration to raise energy prices “to get a Green New Deal.”

In line with the “celebration” framing, right-wing media also twisted Biden’s comments to suggest that high gas prices are “intentional.” For example, the Daily Caller tweeted, “So the high prices are intentional, Joe?” while Glenn Beck’s website wrote, “Did Biden just let slip that record-high gas prices were PLANNED?” Paid polluting-industry shills and longtime Fox News guests Daniel Turner and Steve Milloy also insinuated the same on Twitter.

Right-wing morning news shows on May 24 also followed this line of attack — on Fox & Friends First, Fox News contributor Brian Brenberg stated in regard to gas prices that “higher prices are part of the plan. They have always been part of the plan for him. He wants you to pay for his green dream transition.” On Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria, host Maria Bartiromo stated that Biden “just admitted it … this is all intentional. It’s a plan.” Will Cain, co-host of Fox & Friends, stated that Biden’s transition comments were an “absolutely outlandish statement that we are going to be talking about more this morning. Because it also plants the idea, confirms the idea in many people's minds, that this isn't an accident.”

Right-wing media’s “intentional” framing is absurd given that the president has very little control over gas prices, which are high right now for a number of reasons, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rapidly surging demand for oil. It also contradicts Biden’s own position on the issue, as he recently promised to “work like the devil to bring gas prices down.” In fact, right-wing media have been making this claim even before Biden’s Tokyo comments. For example, on the May 20 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy implied that Democrats “want to inflict some pain upon people” to get them to stop using fossil fuels. On the May 19 edition of Fox Business’ Kennedy, Fox Business host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery aired clips of Republican senators accusing Biden of deliberately raising gas prices to force a transition to clean energy.

As usual, right-wing media took Biden’s transition comments and used them to attack any and all efforts to transition to clean energy. Fox News anchor David Asman tweeted that “Nothing is more dangerous” than Biden’s goal to transition away from fossil fuels. Longtime climate denier and Fox News regular Marc Morano tweeted, “The climate policies of the Biden administration are not only disastrous to the economy and are imposing maximum pain on the American people, but they areanti-human and anti-freedom." On Fox News’ Outnumbered, Republican businessman John James stated, “This is the modern day equivalent to let them eat cake … the agenda that Biden is pushing forward that's crushing American jobs and crushing our wallets.”

Right-wing media are carrying water for the fossil fuel industry

In the wake of these comments, some right-wing media commentators defended the oil and gas industry and called for increased fossil fuel use in the future.

On Fox & Friends First, Texas Republican congressional candidate Wesley Hunt stated about Biden’s comments: “He's got his words wrong. It's not about energy transition; it's about energy addition. … The bottom line is this — it's an all-hands-on-deck approach to fulfill the energy needs of this country. … This administration is trying to kill our industry but we are not going to allow that to happen.” On Fox & Friends, Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney blamed Biden for high gas prices and admonished him for ending America’s so-called energy independence. On Fox Business’ Varney & Co., Fox Business anchor Larry Kudlow called the idea of transitioning away from fossil fuels “woke” and then made the baffling claim that “there's all kinds of new technology that makes fossils very low carbon — we have the lowest emissions in the world.” Immediately following this segment, investment portfolio manager and frequent Fox guest David Bahnsen stated “You could have an incredible transition, you could admit you need natural gas, you could … admit that wind, solar is not going to get it done. He said it's not going to happen overnight — he’s right about that. It is also not going to happen in the next 30 years.”

Any and all climate and clean energy issues are attacked with fervor across right-wing media, which have historically been staunch defenders of the fossil fuel industry and willing collaborators in promoting climate change denial. This defense of the fossil fuel industry has only worsened throughout the Ukraine crisis. Even though oil companies are making record profits, and refusing to drill for more oil because high oil prices allow them to return more money to shareholders, and oil and gas production is close to hitting all-time highs under Biden, right-wing media perceive any criticism of the industry or any comments on attempting to transition away from the industry (as Biden suggested in 2020) as an affront to all that is good and holy.

Transitioning to a clean energy economy is the only way for consumers, in the long run, to feel less pain at the pump

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is largely financed by fossil fuels, as Russia is a major exporter of natural gas as well as a global supplier of oil and coal. Luckily, there are many prominent voices pointing this out and saying that Russia’s invasion should hasten the transition to clean energy. The European Union is speeding up its plans to adopt renewable energy. The International Energy Agency is also calling for a transition away from a fossil fuel economy. And climate scientists are urgently spelling out the need to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels in order to stave off the worst effects of climate change.

Consumers will be more insulated from gas price volatility the less beholden they are to the global oil market. Rather than heeding right-wing media’s calls for increased drilling, and giving in to their fears that a clean energy economy will be devastating for the U.S. (quite the contrary), now is the time to begin the transition.

Related

Fox News dominated coverage of congressional hearing on Big Oil and gas prices

04/08/22

Fox News heaps praise on the fossil fuel industry as the Russian war in Ukraine rages on

03/17/22

Fox is using the Ukrainian crisis to suggest the Biden administration’s climate policies emboldened Putin

02/24/22

---

---

5 22

bill to allow to let SEC check on gas price gouge killed by minority rank member tom cole OK alec RSC

wingman m burgess TX

a million $ from oil career

killed gas price investigation 5 22

votes for oil 90% of time

Tom Cole has received $80,100 in oil contributions during the 110th congress. $50,500 of those dollars were from industry PACS. In total, Cole has accepted $305,050 from oil companies between 2000 and 2008, which makes him one of the top recipients of oil money

---

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/05/gop-gas-bill/

no lnx twt

Republicans block bill to stop price gouging at the pump as gas hits new record high

David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement May 17, 2022

Take a walk through U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers‘ tweets and you’ll find complaint after complaint about the price of gas. Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers, Republican of Washington, is the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee but opposes legislation to stop oil and gas companies from price gouging consumers.

:{:{}:

}:

Rep. McMorris Rodgers on Monday claimed that making it illegal for oil companies to price gouge is “socialism,” something that’s done in places like “Soviet Russia,” not in America.

:{:{}:

}:

"The promise of America is free enterprise, not socialism, not government price controls,” she claimed, as she complained about the price of gas, which just hit a new record high.

Here is the Republican from Washington just one week ago sayingit’s time to “get these prices under control.”

The bill would not set price caps as some Republicans suggest, rather, it would empower the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate if oil and gas companies are price gouging consumers.

Republicans on the powerfulHouse Rules Committee on Monday blocked the bill, H.R. 7688, the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act. from advancing. The GOP, thanks to McMorris Rodgers, is now calling the legislation the “Socialist Energy Price Fixing Act.”

CNN’s Manu Raju reports House Republican leadership Monday evening was urging its members to vote against the legislation if and when it comes to a vote on the full floor, which is still possible, although questionable.

C-SPAN’s Craig Caplan:

The right-wing newspaper The Washington Times reports Democrats “were forced to pull the proposal from consideration during a procedural vote in the House Rules Committee that would have teed up the bill for a final vote later this week.”

:{:{}:

}:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will bring the bill to a vote on the floor if it passes the House. It would require 60 votes to avoid a GOP filibuster, and therefore is not expected to pass.

---

https://www.mediamatters.org/cable-news/cable-news-discussions-record-high-gas-prices-may-10-failed-hold-fossil-fuel-industr

amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and the world’s response to Russian aggression, energy prices have been understandably top-of-mind for both news media and the general public. Gas prices reached another record high on May 10, setting off a new round of cable news coverage that coincided with President Joe Biden’s speech on the same day about his administration’s attempts to arrest inflation.

Although cable news shows covering these stories performed an adequate job of explaining how the price consumers pay at the pump is determined by a range of different factors in a globalized market, they also allowed the fossil fuel industry to escape accountability for its role in raising prices, despite the fact that oil companies are intentionally restraining oil production in order to return record profits for shareholders.

Cable news rarely connected record fossil fuel industry profits to record gas prices

CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC aired a combined 48 segments about record gas prices on May 10, with CNN (23) and Fox (19) airing the majority. Although MSNBC had the fewest segments (6), anchorKaty Tur was the only person across all 48 cable news segments who connected record gas costs with record fossil fuel industry profits.

On the May 10 episode of Katy Tur Reports, she asked Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm about “price gouging” by the fossil fuel industry, saying: “The president said he'll focus on oil companies taking advantage of the situation. The CEO of a major oil company said they saw record prices. Do you see price gouging as part of the problem here?"

[vid ]

this basic context should be part of the broader cable news coverage of gas prices.

Other cable news segments on May 10 took pains to emphasize how the war in Ukraine, European Union sanctions on Russian oil, demand rebound since 2021, and yearly summer trends have contributed to the steep rise in gas prices and could lead to future, record increases.

However, cable news analysis that day almost entirely left out a key driver of high energy prices: the fossil fuel industry.

Although the specific role the industry played in driving the most recent record gas prices is still being puzzled out by economists, Big Oil has been credibly accused by environmental activists of profiteering from economic instability caused by the war in Ukraine. In fact, multiple outlets published stories about record oil company profits just a few days ahead of the breaking news about record gas prices on May 10, including this from Fortune:

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, subsequent sanctions on Russia and the exit of Western oil and gas companies from the country sent prices soaring, and fossil fuel companies are reaping the rewards.

British petroleum company Shell announced their quarterly profits on Thursday, posting a record $9.1 billion in earnings. That’s compared to $6.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Although Shell posted the highest profits, other major oil companies also announced major gains.

BP announced it hit $6.2 billion in first quarter earnings, up from the $4.1 billion reported last quarter. French oil major TotalEnergies also reported a $9 billion profit in the first quarter, up 32% from the last quarter of 2021. U.S.-based Chevron reported $6.3 billion in earnings, up from $5.1 billion last quarter.

A Time magazine article published May 11 was even more stark in describing how oil companies plan to use their windfall profits to line their own pockets, instead of making investments to ease the pain at the pump:

For the most part, major oil companies aren’t going to pour these billions of dollars into climate-mitigation investments like carbon capture technologies. Nor have they signaled any immediate intention to bolster oil production, despite calls from heads of state to do so. Their inaction has spurred U.S. and European countries, which are under pressure to keep fuel affordable, to release oil reserves and replace Russian crude oil and liquid natural gas from other sources. Despite those government efforts, oil prices have stayed above $100 per barrel, sustaining an influx of money to fossil fuel companies that are passing it on to stockholders and investors in the form of increased dividends and share buyback initiatives that drive up companies’ share values.

One analysis from the Wall Street Journal found that the nine largest U.S. oil producers spent 54% more in share repurchases and dividends in the first quarter than they invested in new oil developments. Similarly, a recent report covering the 20 largest U.S. oil companies published by the environmentalist organization Friends Of The Earth and consumer watchdog organizations Public Citizen and BailoutWatch, tallied $56 billion in new share buyback authorizations in the roughly seven months since last October, compared with $11 billion announced in the nine months before that.

Not only is the fossil fuel industry dragging its feet on actions that could potentially alleviate high energy costs for American consumers, but it also continues to profit from the global instability caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In fact, the industry has a long and sordid history of exacerbating geopolitical conflicts for its own profit.

Journalistic accountability demands that Big Oil’s role in this crisis is included in every segment about rising gas prices or increased energy costs – particularly as right-wing media outlets such as Fox News continue running cover for the oil industry while placing blame for high gas prices almost solely on the Biden administration.

Fox is dedicated to carrying the fossil fuel industry’s water, CNN and MSNBC must do better

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Fox News has absolved Big Oil of any responsibility for energy price increases while desperately trying to blame the Biden administration.This included Fox figures mentioning the canceled Keystone pipeline approximately 141 times in segments about the Ukraine crisis from February 22-28, and mentioning “energy independence” or “energy security” – industry talking points to promote more domestic drilling for oil and gas – at least 632 times from February 24 through April 24.  

In reality, the factors determining what consumers pay for gas prices are very complicated, and generally, presidents and their related policies have little effect on the price at the pump and little influence over the complex economics of energy markets, absent leading a rapid transition to a clean energy economy. But this hasn’t stopped Fox News from using the situation in Ukraine to bash the Biden administration’s energy policy.

After Biden’s March 8 announcement that the United States was banning Russian fossil fuel imports, Fox News hosts and guests blamed him for instituting the same policy that they had previously demanded– all while praising oil and gas companies as “the greatest industry around the world,” deflecting Biden’s criticism of them as “unpatriotic,” and arguing they are “basically our national defense.”

Meanwhile CNN and MSNBC’s recent coverage has largely failed to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for exploiting global conflicts and ramping up fuel prices amid their own record profits.

Their last opportunity came during the April 6 House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on the fossil industry’s role in driving record high gas prices. Fox News programs devoted 49 minutes of coverage to the hearing, much of which defended Big Oil and blamed the Biden administration, while CNN and MSNBC covered the hearings for only 10 minutes and 4 minutes, respectively. This disparity in coverage effectively allowed Fox to again shape the narrative around climate and energy on cable news. Instead of CNN and MSNBC viewers learning about the myriad factors driving gas prices, including Big Oil profiteering, they were told little, if anything, about the role the fossil fuel industry plays in driving the price at the pump.

Cable news shows must begin holding the fossil fuel industry accountable

Despite the fossil fuel industry’s billion-dollar campaign to erode the public consensus on climate change and its exploitation of the current Russian invasion of Ukraine to agitate for deepened reliance on its products, public polling shows that more than two-thirds of U.S. adults support “developing alternative energy, including wind and solar, over increasing production of fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas.” In addition, poll after poll finds that the majority of Americans want the government to take climate action – but they rarely have the opportunity to learn from TV news about the fossil fuel industry’s role in opposing urgently needed climate and environmental policies.

Reporting on consumers facing record-high prices at the gas pump while oil companies enjoy record-high profits presents just one such opportunity for cable news outlets to inform their audiences about these connections and their links to the climate crisis.

Fox News is a key cog in the fossil fuel industry’s disinformation network, so the conservative network will never cover this reality. But CNN and MSNBC can no longer afford to miss key opportunities to bring accountability to the fossil fuel industry, especially as the public demands answers and the window for meaningful climate action rapidly closes.

Methodology

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC for any of the terms “gas,” “fuel,” “pump,” “diesel,” “record,” “price,” “soar,” or “high” on May 10, 2022.

We counted segments, which we defined as instances when record gas prices were the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion that also included discussion of record gas prices. We defined significant discussion as two or more speakers in a multi-topic segment discussing record gas prices with one another. We also counted headline reports, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host read news highlights covering a range of topics. Within those segments, we then determined whether any speaker also mentioned record fossil fuel industry profits.

We did not include teasers for segments about record gas prices coming up later in the broadcast or passing mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker spoke without another engaging with the comment.

---

https://www.mediamatters.org/climate-deniers/fox-news-dominated-coverage-congressional-hearing-big-oil-and-gas-prices

no lnx vid grf

Fox News dominated coverage of congressional hearing on Big Oil and gas prices

Fox’s Big Oil hearing coverage was more than triple CNN’s and MSNBC’s coverage combined

CLIMATE & ENERGY

WRITTEN BY ALLISON FISHER

PUBLISHED 04/08/22

Since last year, Fox News has been trying to pin the blame of rising fuel costs on President Joe Biden through its relentless coverage. The April 6 congressional hearing — by the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee — on the oil industry’s role in driving record high gas prices and earning record profits posed a threat to that right-wing media narrative. 

:{:{}:

}:

In response, Fox News programs devoted 49 minutes of coverage to the hearing, much of which defended Big Oil and insisted that Biden’s policies are responsible for high gas prices. In comparison, CNN and MSNBC covered the hearings for only 10 minutes and 4 minutes, respectively, effectively letting Fox shape the narrative around this moment and failing to use it as a catalyst to inform viewers on the myriad factors that are driving the price at the pump.

Fox covered Big Oil hearing for over three times as long as CNN and MSNBC combined

Fox leveraged the Big Oil hearing to defend the industry and redirect blame at Biden

:{:{}:

}:

On April 6, nearly every hour on Fox News — from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. EDT — featured coverage of the congressional hearing on the oil industry and gas prices. The vast majority of this coverage ran cover for the industry while shoring up one of the network’s most dominant narratives around gas prices — that Biden is to blame.

The claim is false; presidents and their policies have little effect on the price at the pump in the short term and even less impact on how gas is priced in the global market. It also ignores the fact that prices have been rebounding since economies across the globe began reopening from the COVID-19 lockdowns last year. But that hasn’t stopped Fox News from repeatedly tethering gas price hikes to Biden’s policies.

Fox’s coverage of the hearing started with the network’s early morning program,Fox & Friends First. Fox Business correspondent Cheryl Caseonereported on the hearing and cited “misguided policies from the administration” as the key drivers of inflation and high energy cost. Other segments throughout the day highlighted industry talking points, including the claim that “rhetoric from the Biden administration” has had a “chilling effect” on oil production. Anchor Martha MacCullum began her coverage of the Big Oil hearing on The Story with Martha MacCullum by highlighting the findings of a recent Fox poll (a self-fulfilling prophecy) that “Republicans and 68% of registered voters say that the Biden administration is to blame for high prices at the pump.”

Video From the April 6, 2022, episode of Fox News' The Story with Martha MacCallum

In defense of oil companies, Fox host and guests, which included oil industry executives, suggested they were a scapegoat for Biden’s failed policies. Appearing on America’s Newsroom, American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers said:

“We all know that the real reasonfor high prices are a consequence of low production because of some of these Biden administration policies, but also some other factors that are going on throughout the world. So — but this is a typical blame game we see all the time on Capitol Hill. It is pretty outrageous, though, that they're hauling American executives that supply 11 million American jobs up before Congress to blame them for something that they themselves can be blamed for.”

Similarly, Dan Eberhart, another oil industry CEO, appeared on America Reports and called the hearing a “big show trial.”[anti-commie]

Earlier in the program congressional correspondent Chad Pergram began his report by saying: “Democrats who control the House, Senate, and White House are struggling to address the price surge, so they need a scapegoat. Oil companies. Attacking big business is good politics for the Democratic base.They tried to focus on profits and turned on the witnesses.”

In reality, the industry’s record profits and related decisions to not increase production at a time consumers are hurting from high energy costs seems to expose something wrong, if not unjust, that should be examined by policymakers.

Some segments went so far as to defend Big Oil’s record profits, including by highlighting the losses the industry faced during the early phases of the pandemic when gas demand plummeted due to nationwide stay-at-home ordinances. Anchor Sandra Smith on America Reports listed all the major oil companies’ losses and profits over the past two years, saying that it was important context to understand the profit loss in 2020 as the companies are being “demonized” for profiting in 2021.

Video From the April 6, 2022, episode of Fox News' America Reports

Notably, while oil industry profits did dip during the pandemic, CEO salaries did not. According to an analysis by BailoutWatch, reported by Gizmodo, oil executives' salaries remained intact in 2020 as the industry was laying off workers while receiving federal handouts:

“The analysis finds that at a dozen oil companies—including big names like Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Phillips 66—CEO pay in 2020 was more than 100 times that of the median worker’s pay. All of those companies laid people off last year, including thenine companies that collectively got $4.8 billion in federal bailout money.”

CNN and MSNBC missed an opportunity to hold Big Oil accountable

CNN and MSNBC dedicated only 10 minutes and 4 minutes, respectively, to covering the April 6 hearing — even as the issue of high gas prices remains a mainstay of cable news. One segment on CNN accounted for nearly all of CNN’s coverage — an over 7-minute joint interview on CNN Newsroom with Ana Cabrera withRobert Reich, a public policy professor and former labor secretary, and Daniel Raimi, energy analyst with Resources for the Future.

The segment served, in part, as an example of how CNN and MSNBC could have used the hearing to more robustly cut through reductive and agenda-driven industry and right-wing media talking points to provide a more holistic understanding of why gas prices are high and what tools are available to help alleviate cost to consumers.

Video From the April 6, 2022, episode of CNN Newsroom with Ana Cabrera

The majority of MSNBC’s 4 minutes of hearing coverage was aired in the closing moments of The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle. Host Stephanie Ruhle first laid out the contrasting positions by Democrats and Republicans overseeing the hearing and then told her viewers:   

:{:{}:

}:

“This might be a good time to let you know thatmembers of this very subcommittee received a whopping $383,000 from Big Oil. And according to the FEC, 97% of that money went to Republicans. So, what did the oil executives have to say about the high prices Americans are paying at the pump? They said it's not their fault.”

Video

CitationFrom the April 6, 2022, episode of MSNBC's The 11th Hour With Stephanie Ruhle

While good, both segments only scratched the surface of the information (on gas prices) and accountability (of the oil industry).

In fact, in October, CNN and MSNBC managed to devote a modest amount of coverage to a congressional hearing on Big Oil disinformation, providing a glimmer of what accountability journalism could look like if cable news shows began seriously interrogating the fossil fuel industry. But the sparse coverage of this latest hearing represents a failure on part of the networks to both build on that accountability and, particularly in this moment, provide necessary context around high prices.

Fox News is shaping discussion around climate and energy issues

The April 6 hearing is not the first time Fox News has dominated coverage of key climate and energy actions or newsworthy moments. After the Green New Deal was introduced in 2019, Fox News relentlessly attacked the climate and justice actions and hammered the same messaging — tethering the proposal to radical socialism, climate alarmism, and economic devastation, while vilifying those who champion it. In comparison, other TV news networks made only a cursory attempt to articulate what the Green New Deal is and what it would accomplish. As a result, for Fox viewers, the Green New Deal has become synonymous with extreme socialism manifested by a fake climate crisis.

In the month following candidate Joe Biden unveiling his climate agenda in July 2019, Fox News aired 7 times the number of segments CNN aired and more than 4 times the segments aired on MSNBC. In fact, the network’s coverage of energy and climate issues in the fall months of the 2020 presidential campaign played a role shaping the related presidential debate questions.

After Biden took office on January 27, 2021, Fox spent approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes that day discussing Biden’s day one executive orders (including canceling the Keystone XL pipeline). CNN spent nearly half as much time, at approximately 53 minutes, MSNBC spent 1 hour and 24 minutes discussing the topics. While this data may not be as striking, it doesn’t include the amount of time Fox spent covering, for example, the canceled Keystone XL pipeline long after the other networks had moved on. Even now, Fox News has still repeatedly invoked the scrapped pipeline as one of the reasons contributing to the current energy crisis, even though the pipeline would not have had an impact on gas prices.

It is troubling to see CNN and MSNBC repeatedly yield coverage of major climate and energy stories to Fox News, and it’s time for the networks to step up.

Methodology

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on cable news networks CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel for the names of the major oil industry companies and the terms “oil” or “gas” or “company” or “pump” within close proximity to any of the terms “profit,” “price,” “cost,” “gouge,” or “swindle” on April 6 from 4 a.m. to midnight EDT.

We timed segments, which we defined as instances when the hearing was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the hearing. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the hearing with one another. We also included headline reports, which we defined as instances when an anchor, host, or correspondent read a short news report about the hearing in rapid succession with several unrelated stories.

Additionally we included passing mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker discussed the hearing without another speaker engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about the hearing scheduled to air later in the broadcast.

We rounded all times to the nearest minute.

THE LATEST

MSNBC's Tiffany Cross pays tribute to Eric Boehlert

04/09/22 12:30 PM EDT

Tucker Carlson calls on men to storm into schools “and thrash the teacher”

04/08/22 8:53 PM EDT

On YouTube, Charlie Kirk warns that gay people “want to corrupt your children”

04/08/22 2:45 PM EDT

Fox News dominated coverage of congressional hearing on Big Oil and gas prices

04/08/22 12:43 PM EDT

In March, Tucker Carlson clips made up nearly half of the most-viewed videos on Fox’s YouTube channel

04/08/22

IN THIS ARTICLE

Climate deniers

Fox News

Related

Tomorrow's hearing on gas prices is an opportunity for national TV news to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable

04/05/22 2:56 PM EDT

Cable news spent 41 minutes covering the congressional hearing on Big Oil misinformation. This should mark a new beginning for accountability journalism.

11/01/21 3:22 PM EDT

Fox News mentioned the Keystone Pipeline 141 times in one week during the network’s coverage of the War in Ukraine

03/01/22

---

he's good w/ metaphor

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/limiting-climate-change-life-support/

"The 1.5-degree goal is on life support. It is in intensive care."

So said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterreson Monday, as he stressed that a swift and just transition to clean energy is necessary to meet the Paris agreement's objective of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels—andwarned against using Russia's deadly assault on Ukraine as an excuse to ramp up fossil fuel production worldwide.

"The science is clear. So is the math," the U.N. leader said during a speech delivered at a Sustainability Summit hosted by The Economist. "Keeping 1.5 alive requires a 45% reduction in global emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by mid-century." And yet, "according to present national commitments, global emissions are set to increase by almost 14% in the 2020s."

"We are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe," Guterres continued. "Our planet has already warmed by as much as 1.2 degrees—and we see the devastating consequences everywhere. In 2020, climate disasters forced 30 million people to flee their homes—three times more than those displaced by war and violence."

Just this past weekend, scientists conveyed shock and alarm in response to reports that temperatures at both of Earth's poles reached more than 50°F above average last week.Peer-reviewed research published on Friday found that increasingly frequent and intense wildfires around the globe are exacerbating Arctic warming, which is worsening the conditions that make future blazes more likely.

"Two weeks ago," said Guterres, citing part two of the U.N.'s landmark climate assessment, "the IPCC confirmed that half of humanity is already living in the danger zone. Small island nations, least developed countries, and poor and vulnerable people everywhere areone climate shock away from doomsday. In our globally connected world, no country and no corporation can insulate itself from these levels of chaos."

"If we continue with more of the same, we can kiss 1.5 goodbye," he added. "Even 2 degrees may be out of reach. And that would be catastrophe."

Making matters worse, said Guterres, "the fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine risks upending global food and energy markets—with major implications for the global climate agenda."

The United States, United Kingdom, and European Union have moved to restrict imports of Russian fossil fuels in response to Moscow's military offensive. Although progressives have emphasized that the ongoing invasion should lead to an intensification of efforts to move away from dirty energy,profit-hungry proponents of oil, gas, and coal have seized on surging prices to push for boosting extraction and exports.

Guterres warned that "as major economies pursue an 'all-of-the-above' strategy to replace Russian fossil fuels, short-term measures might create long-term fossil fuel dependence and close the window to 1.5 degrees."

"Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use," he said. "This is madness. Addiction to fossil fuels ismutually assured destruction."

"As current events make all too clear, our continued reliance on fossil fuels puts the global economy and energy security at the mercy of geopolitical shocks and crises," added Guterres. "We need to fix the broken global energy mix."

Noting that "the timeline to cut emissions by 45% is extremely tight," the U.N. leader stressed that "instead of hitting the brakes on the decarbonization of the global economy, now is the time to put the pedal to the metal towards a renewable energy future."

His remarks came just hours before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) kicked off a two-week meeting to validate part three of its report, which focuses on the need to drastically slash carbon pollution to avoid the most disastrous outcomes.

Guterres argued that cooperation between the developed and emerging economies of the G20—responsible for 80% of global emissions—is essential to addressing the planetary emergency.

"Accelerating the phase-out of coal and all fossil fuels and implementing a rapid, just, and sustainable energy transition," he said, is "the only true pathway to energy security."

---

5 22 twitiots

iwas going for jim j BS

---

rep. Jim Jordan

@Jim_Jordan

$5 dollar gas.

:{:{}:

}:

No baby formula. 

:{:{}:

}:

Record crime. 

:{:{}:

}:

Record inflation. 

:{:{}:

}:

Border crisis. 

And what’s Congress doing today? Holding a hearing on UFOs!

Rep. Jim Jordan

@Jim_Jordan

·

22h

Christopher Steele created the dossier. [for ? orig GOP oppo?!]

Glenn Simpson sold it to the press.

Michael Sussman took it to the FBI.

And Democrats and the media lied to you about it all.

Rep. Jim Jordan

@Jim_Jordan

·

19h

Gas prices reached another record high today.

You still can’t find baby formula.

And Democrats in D.C.have no real plan.[vs GOP's health care plan...]

scalise:

just sent this letter to Biden demanding he end his anti-American energy agenda.He needs to: 1. Remove red tape for energy infrastructure 2. End the drilling moratorium on federal land 3. Approve pipelines & LNG export permits 4. End woke climate activism by federal agencies

Don’t miss what’s happening

People on Twitter are the first to know.

Tweet

See new Tweets

Conversation

Newsmax

@newsmax

·

20h

Billionaire

@elonmusk

praised Netflix for telling employees to quit if they don't want to work on content they don’t agree with. https://bit.ly/3LdHKxK

Monica Crowley

@MonicaCrowley

·

20h

Such a mess

Quote Tweet

RNC Research

@RNCResearch

"How does raising taxes on corporations lower the cost of gas, the cost of a used car, the cost of food for everyday Americans?"

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Climate change

424.5K views

0:10 / 0:36

thebradfordfile

@thebradfordfile

·

18h

Elon Musk knows twitter has been lying about more than just shadow banning.

Diamond and Silk®

@DiamondandSilk

·

15h

Sean Hannity is no different than these left leaning Liberals. So disappointing!

Show this thread

Bongino Report

@BonginoReport

·

20h

Biden's new press secretary did NOT have a good first day... Her first exchange with Peter Doocy was a disaster

rumble.com

Biden's new Press Sec HUMILIATES herself in first face-off with Doocy

Yikes... She makes even Jen Psaki look good in comparison.

Donald Trump Jr.

@DonaldJTrumpJr

·

22h

As if we needed another reason to want Trump to run!

rumble.com

LOL: Dr. Fauci Self-Owns, Gives Us Another Reason to Support Trump!

Guys I don’t know if Trump is running yet but wouldn’t this be amazing!

Lauren Boebert

@laurenboebert

·

18h

Just imagine what the inflation rate would be if Build Back Better would have passed.

It would probably be higher than Biden’s failed approval rating.

TheLeoTerrell

@TheLeoTerrell

·

4h

Joe Biden is going to exploit Black Americans for political purposes in Buffalo.

Mini AOC

@RealMiniAOC

·

16h

Jen Psaki is now the 2nd worst White House Press Secretary in U.S. history.

Sean Hannity

@seanhannity

·

22h

‘IT’S COMMON SENSE’: Trump Says ‘I Want a Border, I Want Voter ID, I Want Low Taxes’

hannity.com

'IT'S COMMON SENSE': Trump Says 'I Want a Border, I Want Voter ID, I Want Low Taxes'

It sure sounds like former President Donald Trump is gearing up for another run at the White House. During a recent event in Austin, Texas, Trump told supporters he doesn't care what you call him —he...

Ted Cruz

@tedcruz

·

19h

Unbelievable. Just LAST WEEK the Biden FDA refused to reopen the biggest baby formula plant in the US! 

:{:{}:

}:

26 states including Texas are struggling to stock formula. The Biden admin can’t rewrite history. 

FIX IT NOW!!

Quote Tweet

RNC Research

@RNCResearch

Karine Jean-Pierre says the Biden administration has been "talking about" the baby formula shortage since February.

Biden didn't weigh in until three days ago.

New to Twitter?

Sign up now to get your own personalized timeline!

By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, including Cookie Use.

Relevant people

Michael Burgess, MD

@michaelcburgess

Congressman for Texas' 26th District, M.D. (Ob/Gyn) in my former life

House Republicans

@HouseGOP

We are the Republican Conference in the United States House of Representatives

Steve Scalise

@SteveScalise

House Republican Whip. Dad. LSU & Saints fan. Proudly representing Louisiana’s First District.

Trending now

What’s happening

News

·

LIVE

Amber Heard resumes testifying in Johnny Depp defamation trial

Trending with #JohnnyDepptrial, #JohnnyDeppvAmberHeard

Bloomberg Quicktake

·

Last night

What it’s like to live through India’s deadly heat wave

US national news

·

1 hour ago

President Joe Biden visits Buffalo after supermarket shooting that left 10 dead

US national news

·

47 minutes ago

FDA grants emergency use authorization of Pfizer-BioNTech booster for children ages 5 to 11

Trending with Pfizer-BioNTech

World news

·

LIVE

People recognize International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia ️‍

Trending with #IDAHOBIT

---

https://www.foxnews.com/world/europes-green-energy-policies-strengthened-putin-michael-shellenberger-says

ref to ?

no lnx [vid in bathrobe?]

DIGITAL ORIGINALS [VULNERABILITY PT??]

Published March 9, 2022

Europe's green energy policies strengthened Putin, Michael Shellenberger says

Europe's dependency on Russian energy empowers Putin in Ukraine conflict, Shellenberger says

By William Spruance , William Spruance | Fox News

Europe's green energy policies empowered Russian President Vladimir Putin and stripped Western countries of their ability to sanction Moscow effectively, according to the best-selling author of "Apocalypse Never."

"You're not really an independent nation if you depend on foreign countries so heavily for your energy supplies," Michael Shellenberger told Fox News. He said European nations have become increasingly dependent on Russia for energy in recent years as they have adopted green policy initiatives.

The continent imports nearly 40% of its gas from Russia, according to the Associated Press. It consumes nearly five times as much oil as it produces, and Russia produces nearly four times as much oil as it consumes, according to British Petroleum.

Europe's dependency on Russian energy limits its ability to take actions such as imposing economic sanctions against Russia in response to the conflict in Ukraine, according to Shellenberger.

UKRAINE CONFLICT ‘HEIGHTENS THE RISK’ OF CHINESE-AMERICAN WAR, PROFESSOR SAYS]

"Fifteen years ago, Europe produced more natural gas than Russia," Shellenberger said. "Today, Russia exports three times more natural gas to Europe than Europe produces."

"That's due both to the fact that Russia increased its natural gas production and Europe reduced it," he added.

a

Green energy policies have made Europe dependent on Russia

"Europe decided not to frack in large part in response to climate activists," Shellenberger told Fox News. "We now think there is strong evidence suggesting [the climate activists] were supported directly through financing from Russia." 

Moscow intelligence agencies, for example, secretly supported European environmental groups in campaigns against fracking in order to keep the European Union dependent on Russian exports, according to a 2018 congressional report.

But environmental activist groups do not disclose their donors, so any benefactors of Russia’s donations remain unknown, according to Shellenberger. WHO DOES NOT DISCLOSE DONORS]

Additionally, Europeans became more reliant on Russian energy because of nuclear energy policies.

Putin "expanded nuclear power at home so that he could export more natural gas abroad rather than use it for electricity production," Shellenberger said. "Europe shut down its nuclear plants and declined to build new ones."

Russia's nuclear power capacity has increased by 33% since 2002, according to the World Nuclear Association. Germany's nuclear capacity has decreased by over 80% in that time period.

"That has proven to be catastrophic as the continent became increasingly dependent on Russia for energy imports," Shellenberger told Fox News.

Shellenberger described rising oil costs and foreign dependencies as "the worst energy crisis since 1973."

"I think the chances are very high that it's going to result in a global recession," Shellenberger told Fox News. "When oil prices reach these levels, they tend to trigger recessions." NOT ALARMIST AT ALL, LAST RECESSIONS CAUSED BY TRUMP COVID FAIL AND ENRON DEREG]

DataTrek Research co-founder Nicholas Colas recently told Barron's: "History shows that a 100% increase in oil prices over a year usually triggers a recession (1990, 2000, 2008). We’re not quite there yet, but we are getting closer by the day.

Crude oil reached $130 per barrel Sunday evening, according to CNBC. A year ago, it was $63.81.

Shellenberger said oil prices could hit $200 per barrel. [WELL QUALIFIED TO PREDICT]

European reliance on Russian energy leaves Western countries with little leverage against Putin in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, according to Shellenberger.

President Biden announced on Tuesday a ban on U.S. imports of Russia oil. Last year, the U.S. imported 7% of its petroleum from Russia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"Our hearts are with the Ukrainians," Shellenberger said. "We would love to be able to punish the Russians and stop importing their energy, but efforts to do that will make energy more expensive." [AND THUS NOT A SACRIFICE WOTH MAKING TO SAVED DEMOC TRUMP AND PUTIN TRYING TO DESTROY YOU TRAITOROUS FECK]

"It was always predictable," Shellenberger said of the energy crisis and European dependence on Russian energy. "This was all very apparent to people that wererational thinkers on energy."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Prosperity, sovereignty and energy independence are all interconnected, according to Shellenberger.

"There is no low-energy rich nation, just as there is no high-energy poor nation," [NIGERIA? VENEZUELA? IS RUSSIA RICH?] he said.

:{:{}:

}:

"I hope it’s a wake-up call," Shellenberger told Fox News. "At best, we can hope to avoid a global recession, but that's going to require a significant expansion of energy supplies in the United States and Europe as quickly as we can." 

---

---

the fossil fuel industry has been using the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine as a pretext to call for continued, and deepened, reliance on its dirty and dangerous products. Fox News’ coverage throughout the crisis has largely echoed the industry’s talking points, specifically the idea that America needs to drill and produce more oil. Critiques from President Joe Biden and his administration related to the industry's untapped leases and record profits have also prompted Fox and guests to leap to Big Oil’s defense in recent weeks. 

In the face of another onslaught of fossil fuel talking points from Fox News, other cable news networks have not held the industry accountable by reporting on its role in driving the climate crisis, polluting the environment, and exacerbating geopolitical conflicts. In pivotal moments like this, viewers deserve to learn how our reliance on fossil fuels is leaving us more vulnerable to crises ranging from climate change to foreign wars.

Fox News has absolved Big Oil of any responsibility for energy price increases, while accusing the Biden administration of scapegoating

The fossil fuel industry has waged a billion-dollar campaign to erode the public consensus on climate change, fool the public about its commitment to addressing the climate crisis, and thwart any climate action that could impact its bottom line. The industry’s spin campaign has continued as the crisis in Ukraine escalated, causing economic disruption around the world. Faced with public majorities that are outraged at Russian aggression against Ukraine and “favor developing alternative energy, including wind and solar, over increasing production of fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas,” the industry has instead chosen to obfuscate its refusal to produce more oil and gas, pad its record 2021 profits via anti-consumerist practices, and move to deepen the world’s reliance on its products.

And one of its biggest media cheerleaders has been Fox News.

As tensions between Russia and Ukraine ratcheted up, Fox has been nearly unrelenting in pushing a narrative that the Biden administration’s climate policies emboldened Russian President Vladmir Putin to invade. This push includesFox figures mentioning the canceled Keystone pipeline approximately 141 times in segments about the Ukraine crisis from February 22-28 and mentioning “energy independence” or “energy security” – industry talking points to promote more domestic drilling for oil and gas – at least 329 times from February 24 through March 9.

After Biden’s March 8 announcement that the United States was banning Russian fossil fuel imports, Fox News hosts and guests blamed him for instituting the same policy that they had previously demanded – all while praising oil and gas companies as “the greatest industry around the world,” deflecting criticism of them as “unpatriotic,” and arguing they are “basically our national defense.”

On the March 8 episode of *America’s Newsroom, for example, anchor Sandra Smith parroted the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) debunked talking point about the Biden administration discouraging fossil fuel investment.Fox host and former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow attacked the Biden administration for criticizing the industry’s price gouging and record profits on the March 8 episode of *America Reports.

Later that evening on Hannity, host Sean Hannity amplified API talking points that the Biden administration is making it hard to produce more oil; allowed fossil fuel shillDaniel Turner to claim that the Biden administration “wants to send a message to the environmental left” by attacking the industry; and gave energy analyst Phil Flynn a platform to claim that “there’s absolutely no gouging” in gas prices and that the Federal Reserve has been “weaponized” against oil and gas companies. [vid 8th]

the drumbeat of Big Oil talking points continued in the ensuing days.

On the March 9 episode of **The Faulkner Focus, anchor Harris Faulkner hosted API President Mike Sommersto blame Biden for high energy prices: “Some of the policies that are being pursued right now by this administration are putting us on a road to more dependence – not independence.”

Similarly, Fox host Jesse Watters hosted oil company CEO Dan Eberhart on the March 10 episode ofJesse Watters Primetimeto push for more domestic drilling and complained that the Biden administration has been treating the industry as “war profiteers.”

The narrative was still being pushed into this new week. On the March 15 episode of The Story with Martha MacCallum, Fox News anchor Sandra Smith suggested that the Biden administration should decrease energy prices for “the American family, the American consumer who is suffering right now” in part by taking a “friendlier approach to the oil and gas industry." Smith repeated this and other arguments to “increase and incentivize drilling” on the March 15 episode of **The Five, citing API’s claim that the Biden administration should demonstrate it's not out to “demonize oil companies.” 

Fox personality Charles Payne echoed the idea that the Biden administration was “demonizing” oil companies during the March 16 episode of America Reports. [vid]

there is a desperate need for cable news to ramp up its accountability journalism

Despite not promoting these false narratives during the Ukraine crisis as much as Fox News, CNN and MSNBC have largely failed to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for exploiting geopolitical conflicts for profit while driving the climate crisis and degrading the environment for billions of people. The networks have also featured very little coverage about the myriad benefits of clean energy, which include economic stability and energy security (clean energy generation is more price stable and politically stable than fossil fuels).

There is a very clear story that needs to be told about the fossil fuel industry, especially in this moment of rising gas prices and wartime sanctions. As explained by the nonprofit environmental law organizationEarthjustice: “Gas prices are not dictated by White House policy, and the industry’s argument that federal leasing and permitting policies are the source of high gas prices is a flat-out lie crafted to deceive the American public.”

Chasing more fossil fuel leases on public lands and waters would increase industry profits but wouldn’t do anything to decrease today’s gas prices at the pump. It also would keep sending us down the same road of fossil fuel production that is the main driver of the worsening climate crisis. The industry gets the profits, and the American people get handed the resulting wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, and coastal flooding caused and exacerbated by climate change. There’s a better road to go down, and it’s the road of clean energy. For as long as we’re addicted to oil for energy, Americans will be subject to big cost increases when a foreign dictator decides to invade another country or there is a change in the world economy.

As a key cog in the fossil fuel industry’sdisinformation network, Fox News will never cover this reality. But CNN and MSNBC can no longer afford to miss opportunities to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable in favor of echoing and **amplifyingBig Oil talking pointswhile the window for meaningful climate action is rapidly closing.

https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-heaps-praise-fossil-fuel-industry-russian-war-ukraine-rages

==

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/biden-big-oil/

---

~ dominance BS:

an 3 22 ukraine

On Monday, March 7, the Republican-controlled Florida State Senate sent House Bill 741 — which removes green energy incentives for Florida homeowners — to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk for approval. Because MAGA Republicans are dogmatic in their disdain for green energy and love of fossil fuels, DeSantis is almost certain to sign HB 741 into law. But in an op-ed published by the Miami Herald on March 14, Mark Hertling — an Orlando, Florida resident and retired U.S. Army officer — argues that DeSantis should veto HB 741 because it’s the type of bill that helps Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“(DeSantis) is likely to sign HB 741, which would negatively affect the solar industry and eliminate any incentive for individual Floridians to generate their own power at a time when we should be finding ways to expand homegrown energy,” Hertling explains. “To a degree, Florida’s decision to rapidly curtail available and cheaper domestic energy sources gives Putin money in his pockets and leverage over the West.”

Only a fraction of the oil and gas used in the United States has been coming from Russia. So, when President Joe Biden banned Russian oil/gas imports, it was a symbolic way to take a stand against Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. But Western Europe gets a lot of oil from Russia, and Hertling argues that European countries have been much too reliant on Russian oil.

“For those of us who spent most of our professional lives in the U.S. Armed Forces, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was not a complete surprise,” Hertling explains. “When I served as the commanding general of the United States Army-Europe, Vladimir Putin’s expansion was something we tracked and reported on daily, given his invasion of Georgia in 2008, his takeover of Crimea and the Donbas in 2014, and his other adventures in Moldova and Azerbaijan. We also understood why the world let Putin get away with it: The Europeans — and to a lesser degree the U.S. — depended on Russian fossil fuel.”

Hertling adds, “In the last three weeks, we have managed to cripple Russia’s economy, which is almost singularly based on its oil and natural gas industry. In the future, many nations, the U.S. included, must find ways to exploit alternative energy sources.”

Hertling goes on to explain why solar panels have been beneficial to Floridians.

“When I retired in Orlando eight years ago,” Hertling notes, “we put solar panels on our new house.… When we put solar panels on our home, our electric bills were cut by two-thirds. With tax exemptions, we paid for the panels in just a few years. And returning power to the grid while we were paying less gave us the knowledge that we were contributing to the community and an improved environment.”

Hertling continues, “In sunny Florida, we always wondered why most of our neighbors didn’t do the same. In all likelihood, HB 741 would significantly reduce the demand for rooftop solar power generation in Florida, taking roughly 1.5 million kilowatt hours of energy offline each year.”

In light of the crisis in Ukraine, Hertling writes, the last thing DeSantis should do is sign HB 741 into law.

“I am not suggesting that HB 741’s proponents support Putin’s criminal actions,” Hertling writes.“I am suggesting that any claim that rooftop solar is regressive — which is a dubious claim, as most Florida rooftop solar users make less than $100,000 a year — is counter-intuitive.Yet impact matters more than intent.… That DeSantis would pick this moment to support this is baffling. If he wants to be on the right side of history, Floridians, and our environment, he must veto HB 741.”

---

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/republicans/

fact checkers ~ BS

---

ukraine war may well be inflection pt between getting off FF and 2x down?!

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/gop-lawmaker-fact-checked-by-cnn-s-dana-bash-after-blaming-biden-for-oil-companies-not-drilling/

---

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/ted-cruz-fact-checked-gas/

---