(RightWing.org) – The series of initiatives, rules, and policies put in place by President Joe Biden since he took office often seemed to have been concocted to destroy the United States and its reputation abroad while simultaneously helping nations that see us as their enemy. From the flood of illegal immigrants roaring like a tsunami through the country’s cities to his lukewarm support for Israel as they fight a war against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terrorist proxies, and his insistence on cutting down any attempt at freeing America from its dangerous dependence on foreign sources of oil and vital minerals.
Out of Touch
Using one of the Progressive’s favorite drums to beat on, “the climate crisis,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland put together a package on Biden’s orders that will close off 13 million acres of land and water in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPR-AL) to oil and natural gas drilling. To put that in a relatable frame of reference, look at a map and find Vermont and New Hampshire which combined cover roughly 12 million acres according to the U.S. Forest Service, and that is how much area of potential petroleum products were just put under lock and key.
While one could reasonably expect Republican opposition to this kind of mortgaging of America’s future against the Liberal New Green Deal with its unproven and ineffective technologies, Alaska’s lone member in the House of Representatives joined with her colleagues in the Congressional Western Caucus in condemning the move. Representative Mary Peltola (D-AK) together with Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (R-WA) issued a press release explaining their objections.
Peltola called it “a huge step back… [that fails] to strike a balance between the need for gap oil and natural gas and legitimate environmental concern.” She continued and accused Biden (and by extension Haaland) of “steamrolling” over any opposition by the people who live in Alaska.
Newhouse’s comments were somewhat less… nuanced. He called the announcement more “egregious anti-American energy development… to score political points with extreme environmentalists.” Beyond just the oil and gas, they also touched upon the Ambler Access Project (AAP) which would have provided a road into the region to access large deposits of needed minerals.
The other two people who represent the people of Alaska in Washington D.C. are Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan who both slammed the decision as well, according to a joint statement which also included Peltola. The new Biden rule overturns former President Donald Trump’s decision to grant a right of way across federal lands to the state-owned Ambler Mining District.
This release notes that without the road there is no way to access “significant deposits of copper, cobalt, gallium, germanium, and other critical minerals that are crucial to the U.S. economy and national security.” These metals are used in the production of high-speed computer chips and for materials in the renewable energy sector, yet another example of Democrats not seeing the irony in some of their moves.
One analysis of 2022 data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) indicates that the US is 100% reliant upon the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for its gallium supply and half of the germanium while looking to Norway for 76% of cobalt. These lawmakers are trying to warn the public that the Biden administration seems more interested in kowtowing to foreign regimes than helping America remain self-sufficient.
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