East Wake Times

Green-energy policies are coming back to haunt the United States government as the country struggles with rising fuel prices.

In looking for ways to ease the pain at the pump, President Joe Biden has turned to countries such as Iran, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia for fossil fuels instead of relying on U.S. oil producers, according to a March 14 report by FOX Business.

Biden shut down key domestic oil pipelines and called for a stop to federal land drilling leases within the past year, FOX Business reported. Those major policy decisions mean politicians cannot quickly ease the fuel crunch by increasing domestic supply.

A Georgia Senator recently said America should be going ‘green.’

"I think we need to be moving away from an economy that’s based on fossil fuels, that’s the way of the past and we need to be moving toward the future,” U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), said in a YouTube video.

Biden has echoed that sentiment, saying he wants to move away from fossil fuels. During a campaign event in New Castle, New Hampshire, in September 2019, Biden answered a question by saying, “I guarantee you, we’re going to end fossil fuels,” another YouTube video shows.

That commitment, combined with rising fuel prices, have frustrated many politicians.

"The hypocrisy of this administration to continue to consume fossil fuels knowing full well that we can produce them here cleaner, safer, more environmentally sound and yet go to rely on tyrants around the world to produce them for the United States is just terrible,” Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), told FOX Business.

The Keystone XL Pipeline was shut down in June 2021, after Biden revoked a key permit needed for a U.S. stretch of the 1,200-mile project on his first day in office, CNBC reported. The pipeline was expected to bring 830,000 barrels per day of oil from Canada to U.S. refiners.

In December 2021, according to E&E News, the Biden administration announced plans to end federal funding for most international fossil fuel projects to try and influence global climate change.

The Warnock video from May 2020 is gaining attention considering the current situation.

In that video, posted on YouTube, Warnock told Brionte McCorkle, Georgia Conservation Voters executive director, that America needs to move away from using fossil fuels and that he was open to discussing a carbon tax to get there.

"Raphael Warnock helped kill the Keystone Pipeline and American energy development—causing Georgia’s gas prices to spike and our country to lose its energy independence," said Stephen Lawson of 34N22, a pro-Republican super PAC (Political Action Committee), in a March 17 Washington Free Beacon report.

Gas prices are still well above $4 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). North Carolina's average is $4.12 per gallon.