The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

There was a Twitter post on Facebook alleging that a Bahamas Petroleum Dealers Association official stated that a gallon of gasoline had surpassed $7 at one particular service station in Nassau. A June 6 New York Post article stated that a Chevron station in Mendocino is charging $9.60 per gallon. In the US, the national average price is $4.86. Diesel is now $5.64.

When President Joe Biden was officially sworn in on January 20, 2021, gas was $2.39. Days following his swearing-in ceremony, Biden issued an executive order which suspended all gas and oil leasing on federal waters and lands. He also put an end to the Keystone XL pipeline, which had the potential to supply the US with 830,000 barrels of oil from Canada.

In keeping with his campaign promise to hurt the fossil fuel industry, Biden has implemented onerous taxation policies aimed at crippling the domestic oil industry in the US in his Leftist initiative called Build Back Better. The New York Post wrote that US oil “firms have less incentive to increase output while facing heavy regulations and costs”.

The US is reported to have 38 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. However, instead of giving oil refineries the go-ahead to tap into these reserves, there have been reports of the Biden administration negotiating with the Venezuelan government to ease its ban on oil imports from that South American country.

In a CNN poll conducted between April 28 and May 1, a staggering 66 percent of those polled disapproved of Biden’s handling of the economy, while 55 percent believe that his Marxist, climate change policies have worsened economic conditions. For 50 percent of those polled, the economy is the most important issue, while just nine percent said climate change. Biden’s overall approval rating has plummeted to 41 percent. Interestingly, Donald Trump and Jimmy Carter -- both one-term presidents -- also had an identical approval rating with Biden at the exact juncture in their presidency. Sixty-three percent of those polled are buying fewer groceries and 54 percent have cut back on driving. Again, this is a CNN poll, not Fox News. The Russian/Ukrainian War, which led to the US banning Russian oil, has had catastrophic consequences for average Americans and the Bahamian people, who are finding it increasingly difficult to buy gasoline, food, medicine and building supplies. The current oil inflation will also impact the transportation, airline, maritime and tourism industries. This is a Marxist nightmare I deeply feared would materialise under Biden. Bahamians who wanted Trump gone are probably now experiencing buyer’s remorse. But they have made their bed and must now lie in it. When I wrote about my support for Trump I was scoffed at. Yet who is laughing now?

Biden with a stroke of a pen could ameliorate the economic situation by loosening the stranglehold on the oil industry, which would offset the Russian sanctions. But I think he will continue to pander to his Leftist base, many of whom are wealthy elitists. What we are currently experiencing in The Bahamas are the direct results of Biden playing Captain Planet against the “greedy” oil industry, despite his vain efforts to shift the blame to Russian President Vladimir Putin and COVID-19 for the inflationary crisis that threatens to cripple the US economy. Captain Planet is the animated character created by Gaia to fight against polluters such as Looten Plunder and the oil industry. Biden has been president for 16 months and counting. This is the outworking of his “green” economic agenda that Gaia and Captain Planet would’ve been proud of had they been real. This agenda has brought tens of thousands of Bahamian fossil fuel consumers to their knees. From a practical standpoint, the average Bahamian simply cannot afford to live in the ideal “green” world Biden is attempting to bring about. In closing, I will leave you with the ominous words of Biden during a 2020 presidential debate: “No more subsidies for fossil fuel energy, no more drilling on federal lands, no more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill. Period.”

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama,

June 6, 2022.