Sen. Cynthia Lummis sponsored a resolution establishing the first-ever National Energy Appreciation Day, and the Wyoming Republican had much to say about American energy at a panel discussion marking the occasion Wednesday.
“As [the Biden] administration continues to put our domestic energy producers on the back burner with its war on American energy, it is essential that we pause to recognize and celebrate their invaluable contributions to our daily lives that we so often take for granted,” Lummis explained in a press statement.
National Energy Appreciation Day is slated for the first Wednesday in October, which is observed as National Energy Awareness Month in the U.S.
Mandy Gunasekara, director of the Center for Energy and Conservation at the Independent Women’s Forum, had the idea for Wednesday’s panel discussion, dubbed “American Energy for Prosperity” and held at The Heritage Foundation in Washington. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)
“Let’s take some time to recognize the fact that we flipped the switch,” Gunasekara said. “The lights, generally speaking, come on.”
The country’s front-line energy workers are the backbone of American energy, she said, noting they power our economy, working “through the night to ensure that there are no disruptions.”
“It is appropriate that we celebrate our front-line energy workers, acknowledge their importance in our economy, and do this annually,” said Lummis, whose state is rich in energy supplies. “Everyone who’s involved in the energy business is keeping America strong. It is a national security issue. It is an American independence issue. It’s a freedom issue.”
President Joe Biden’s administration has been striving to eliminate the fossil-fuel industry in the United States in the name of mitigating climate change. But even “if we got rid of all the fossil fuels in the United States, this would only make a difference of two-tenths of one degree Celsius by the year 2100,” said Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment at The Heritage Foundation.
“Over the past 15 years, the United States’ emissions of carbon have gone down by 1,000 million metric tons because of our use of clean natural gas,” she said.
Meanwhile, “China’s emissions have gone up by 5,000 million metric tons [over the past 15 years],” Furchtgott-Roth said, “because they are making the solar panels and the wind turbines with coal-fired power plants.” And the Biden administration’s energy policies give more economic power to China.
Biden’s first executive order revoked the presidential permit granted to the Keystone XL pipeline, halting construction of the natural gas infrastructure. The Keystone XL pipeline was intended to supply U.S. natural gas to markets across North America.
Biden’s determination to shut down American energy production has had ripple effects on the geopolitical stage. “We have China helping support Russia in their war against Ukraine,” Lummis said. “We are buying Chinese technology for wind and solar infrastructure. We buy their batteries, their wind technology, their solar technology. Then they take our money and join with Russia to fight our friends [in Ukraine].”
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