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This will be a tough winter on your wallet.
President Joe Biden’s war on American energy has not peaked. Gas prices remain high, and the Biden administration has no viable plan to lower them.
The rise in energy prices is visible every time Americans fill up their vehicles. In November, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.68 per gallon, up from a monthly average price of $3.39 per gallon in November 2021. That’s far higher than last November’s average price of $2.42 dollars per gallon, in the five years before Biden’s election.
Too many Americans are finding that the pain doesn’t stop at the pump. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s winter projections predict that American households will pay more this winter to heat their homes than they did last year.
The Energy Information Administration breaks down its projections by US region and heating source. For example, in the south, where 65 percent of households are heated by electricity, bills are predicted to be 13 percent higher this winter. However, the South may fare better this winter than the rest of the country, which is more dependent on natural gas.
Natural gas is used for heating in only 28% of households in the South, but 55% of households in the Northeast, 64% in the Midwest, and 53% in the West. The Energy Information Administration projects that heating costs for those households will increase significantly in all regions this winter compared to last winter: 20% in the Northeast, 31% in the Midwest and 24% in the West.
High energy prices are projected to be the worst for New England residents, where costs are the highest for every home heating source the agency tracks.
Overall, energy prices have risen 18% in the past year, and inflation is at 7.7%, a 40-year high. To make matters worse, real average hourly earnings fell by 2.8%, making it harder to pay energy bills.
American households should hope for a warmer winter to reduce some energy needs, but hope is not a plan, nor is it energy policy.
Biden’s anti-energy policies only make matters worse. The Biden administration has tried to lower prices with short-term releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In all, Biden released more than a third of the strategic reserves, and stocks are now at a 40-year low.
Americans’ energy problems could be alleviated in the long run if Biden allowed American companies to access the country’s abundant energy. However, the administration has made it very clear that it has no intention of improving Americans’ access to the oil, natural gas or coal that meet 79% of Americans’ total energy needs for heat, electricity and transportation. (Nuclear energy provides 8% of Americans’ energy needs, and renewable sources, such as solar and wind, 12%).
Biden has openly fought to minimize America’s energy production, either by shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office or preventing the approval of new drilling leases and creating dozens of regulatory hurdles to building new energy infrastructure. The administration’s strategy is to reduce the production of conventional fuels in order to solve climate change, instead of solving the real problems of everyday Americans, such as high energy prices.
The president’s anti-energy policy is unsustainable. The best way to lower energy prices is to increase American energy production and help other countries do the same. But if Biden has his way, high energy prices are here to stay.
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This article originally appeared in Daily signal and is reprinted with kind permission of the Heritage Foundation.
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