How far would low-energy Joe push the anti-energy agenda?
Real Clear Energy (11/11/20) column: "'Energy in the executive' was Alexander Hamilton’s famous phrase in The Federalist suggesting how the presidency would be the powerful engine of political purpose under the Constitution. Nowadays, though, the phrase takes on a new and narrower meaning: what will the nation’s chief executive do about – well, energy? As the 2020 presidential election campaign drew to a close, it became apparent that enthusiasm among Democrats to ban fracking for oil and gas production might cost them the all-important state of gas-rich Pennsylvania and stifle any dreams of putting Texas into play. Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris backtracked on their earlier, more aggressive opposition to fracking, saying now that they would limit it to federal lands, of which Pennsylvania has few. Beyond the fracking issue, there’s a larger energy story that may play out in ironic ways in what liberals hope will be the equivalent of Barack Obama’s third term...This 'anti-energy in the executive' approach would no doubt thrill the Democratic Party’s grassroots, but it would fare poorly in energy-intensive states like Michigan and Pennsylvania that delivered Biden’s narrow victory. But, at 78 years old by the time he takes office and facing the strong possibility that he will be a one-term president, Biden may be an old man in a hurry, one who discounts conventional political calculations."
|
|
