Biden, other leaders are missing the right response to rising gas prices in NC

Everyone across North Carolina feels the punch of the highest inflation in 40 years and record gasoline prices — and there is little end in sight.

While pandemic disruptions played a role, actions taken in Washington since early 2021 helped inflame the problem. And their flailing remedies are doing practically nothing to alleviate our pain.

What we continue to see from Washington may actually be gambling with our economy and perpetuating what is considered America’s greatest energy mistake. Their scattershot approach to reducing energy prices offers little tangible solutions. It ignores the obvious solution to support domestic energy production.

Oil is the chief cost factor in the price of gasoline and diesel prices. The White House’s antagonistic approach toward our traditional energy sources upon taking office stifled energy development and production.

It triggered prices at the pump to rise by more than $1.10 a gallon from inauguration day to this January. That triggered the higher price trajectory that surged even higher when Russia attacked Ukraine.

The president and other political leaders are offering a variety of political responses. But they ignore the obvious solution: Unleash the U.S. oil and gas industry and make our country energy independent — and safer.

North Carolina and our nation need all the energy we can muster to lower prices right now.

Down the road, that will mean more renewables like wind and solar, and, yes, more oil and gas that will remain the world’s dominant energy source in 2050 even as renewables gain prominence.

Americans across party lines favor that future. Two-thirds support moving toward carbon neutrality by 2050, according to the Pew Research Center, while nearly the same percentage believe we should use both traditional and renewable energy — and certainly not ban fossil fuels.

Unfortunately, the administration restarted federal oil and gas leasing again but then stopped it. This has to start in earnest, and the administration also must accelerate permitting and the building of new traditional energy infrastructure to make an immediate impact.

Why do elected leaders echo certain anti-energy activists who favor eliminating traditional fuels? Why don’t they ever cite America’s world-leading success in reducing emissions while producing energy at record levels? Likewise, why do they ignore technological innovations like carbon capture and storage that will get us to net zero faster than anyone imagined?

Urging the demise of the most readily available, reliable and affordable energy demonizes a core element of our economic engine. It undermines our economy, destroys jobs, and harms North Carolinians who cannot afford to pay more for energy.

Here in the Tar Heel State, the spike in gas prices is up 45% from a year ago to an average $4.24 a gallon as of May 16, according to the American Automobile Association. The higher energy prices translated to natural gas costs rising 35% from a year ago, and electric bills increasing by more than 6% across North Carolina, according to the Energy Information Administration.

In 2022, why should we accept policy proposals that create more price volatility and less dependable, affordable and even more environmentally harmful energy?

Voters should understand we can achieve our environmental goals with clean natural gas and oil, and that attempts to eliminate traditional energy actually harm our environment.

North Carolinians and Americans support a sensible middle path that can lower energy prices and get us to a carbon-neutral future without sacrificing our environmental goals. President Biden must take heed. There is no time to waste with failed energy ideas supported by few and loved by none.

Kevin Doyle is vice president of state affairs for Consumer Energy Alliance. He lives in Hayesville, NC. Correction: A May 14 op-ed listed the wrong year that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at a West Charlotte High School graduation event. It was 1963.