Democrats are desperate to end America’s energy independence

Energy independence has been an enduring bipartisan priority for over four decades. Now that President Trump has finally achieved that goal, the radical Democrats want to dismantle America’s entire energy industry.

President Trump has ushered in a new “golden era” of American energy dominance by approving energy infrastructure projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline, allowing energy exploration on federal lands, and aggressively promoting the clean, affordable natural gas that this country has in great abundance. 

Even more importantly, the President has ended Obama’s devastating war on coal, repealed the harsh and excessive regulations Obama imposed on the fracking industry, and withdrew the United States from the ill-conceived Paris Climate Accord. 

In less than three years, this common-sense approach to energy policy has completely upended the national debate. Americans were once plagued by fears that our reliance on imported oil — much of it produced by countries that are explicitly hostile to our interests — would eventually jeopardize our economy and our national security. Now, that dependence is a thing of the past, and we’re actually in the process of overtaking Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil exporter.

Energy independence isn’t just a national security imperative, though; it’s also key to our economic success. We’re locked in fierce competition with countries all over the world, and unleashing domestic energy production creates thousands of well-paying jobs for American workers. Since energy is a significant expense for almost every kind of business, reducing its cost also has ripple effects throughout the economy, fueling even more economic growth and job creation. 

President Obama’s would-be successors in the Democrat Party have only grown more outraged with each step America has taken toward energy independence, and their radicalism has increased right along with their anger. They’re not content with merely restarting Obama’s multi-front war against energy producers — they want to metaphorically nuke the energy industry out of existence. 

When Democrats call for a carbon-free economy, they’re calling for the elimination of millions of American jobs. Even so-called “moderate” Democrats — who are few and far between these days — want to throttle the American economy with burdensome regulations and mandates that would dramatically increase the cost of basic necessities for American families and businesses. 

The radicals who have taken over the Democrat Party want to go much, much further. Several leading Democrat presidential candidates have already endorsed the insane idea of a “fracking ban,” which would cripple America’s resurgent oil and natural gas industries.

And for what? Reduced carbon emissions? Carbon emissions are already projected to decline both this year and next year, even in the midst of this roaring economy — and a large part of the reason for that is the increased natural gas production enabled by fracking. The Democrats’ fracking ban would only make it harder to achieve their ambitious zero-carbon goal.

Meanwhile, the strong economy is facilitating private-sector development of other “green” technologies, such as advanced nuclear and high-capacity batteries that are making fully-electric cars increasingly feasible for typical drivers.

President Trump envisions a future in which economic prosperity and energy independence go hand-in-hand with environmental conservation. The Democrats, on the other hand, insist that we need to let them demolish one of the pillars of the American economy. 

It took over four decades for this country to finally achieve energy independence. It would take about four seconds before a Democrat administration would begin systematically dismantling our energy industry.

Mandy Gunasekara is a veteran Republican climate and energy strategist and communicator. Most recently, under President Trump, Mandy served in the Environmental Protection Agency as the Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation.