America's OpportunityTo Drill More Oil And Fuel The Climate Crisis

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The Stockholm Environment Institute has just released its “The Production Gap Report 2023,” the fourth year it has been published. Its official title is “Phasing down or phasing up? Top fossil fuel producers plan even more extraction in spite of climate promises “. Its authors write that major energy-producing countries are not interested in supporting the climate rules needed to lessen the global climate crisis. Among these producers, the US is at the top of the list.

The first sentence in the report is, “Governments, in aggregate, still plan to produce more than double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C. “ The data show that while the US will cut back sharply on coal production through 2050, oil production will slow but continue to rise. Gas production moves are predicted to move up sharply throughout the period.

One indicator that the production of fossil fuels will, in aggregate, continue is a statement by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. Carbon abatement, she believes, will be America’s contribution toward saving the planet via old-world energy production management. The contribution of alternative energy sources is not a major way to solve the problem, at least based on her viewpoint as interpreted by analysis. The report further points out that M&A, regulations for the fossil fuel industry, and exemptions from already established policies are a regular part of US policy, whether stated as such or not.

According to the report, the US government has made a short-term decision that helps the fossil fuel sector. “In light of increasing energy prices and concerns over energy security due to the war in Ukraine, the current US administration encouraged oil and gas companies to boost investment and ramp up domestic production.” The Stockholm Environment Institute’s analysts are skeptical about when that policy will end.

America’s fossil fuel industry may be in the best shape financially in its history. It has abundant capital, the ability to engineer mergers that make production costs more efficient, lax regulations, and poor enforcement of existing ones. “Make hay while the sun shines.” The fossil fuel industry, if anything, is making as much hay as it can.