The United States is the world’s top producer of raw fossil fuels after Russia and Saudi Arabia, but some U.S. residents could still face up to a 28 percent increaseThis winter, homeowners will pay more to heat their homes due to higher fuel prices and colder temperatures.
Exports of oil and gas extracted in the nation’s vast fracking fields ballooned in recent years, allowing fossil fuel and energy companies to increase profits and raise prices on consumers as they push to expand their industrial footprint with new pipelines, export terminals and other sources of pollution, according to a new reportPublic Citizen’s watchdogs. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused turmoil in international energy markets and left many European countries facing a crisis, exports are now growing.
This means that domestic oil and natural gas that would have helped lower prices at home 10 years ago will be shipped abroad as the temperatures drop and rising costs make it difficult for U.S. consumers to pay. Nearly 30 percent of crude oil produced in the U.S. was exported in the first six months of 2022, more than double amount exported five years ago, according to Public Citizen’s analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Natural gas exports have been twice as high this year than in 2017.
“Over the past decade, the fossil fuel industry has reoriented itself to prioritize profits from consumers overseas, jacking up prices for American consumers, while putting the climate at peril, exploiting public lands and leaving marginalized Gulf Coast communities in the lurch,” said Alan Zibel, research director at Public Citizen and author of the report, in a statement.
Toxic and low-income communities along the Gulf Coast are disproportionately made up of Black and Indigenous communities. cancer-causing pollution from oil and gas facilitiesThis includes the damage caused by intensifying hurricanes fueled climate change.
Travis Dardar resides in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. He supports his family by fishing shrimp and oysters under the shadow of an LNG export terminal. This terminal is being criticized by environmentalists. releasing fiery and toxic flares. The terminal’s owner, Venture Global, is expanding the facility and has proposed building two more LNG terminals in the area, including one across the street from Dardar’s home.
In a recent with environmentalists, Dardar said that to say the expanding industry is putting his life and career in jeopardy is an “understatement.”
“I feel like it’s over,” Dardar said, adding that Venture Global offered to buy him out and relocate his family, but it would be expensive to move to property by the water where he can continue to fish. “I mean, we don’t know what tomorrow brings.”
If federal regulators were to approve construction of the Venture Global export terminals and others proposed by industry, a total of nine LNG terminals would loom over coastal communities in southern Louisiana, according to a tally of federal dataThe Louisiana Bucket Brigade. Nationally, there are at least 25 LNG export terminals. 90 billion tons of greenhouse gases each year. That’s equivalentAll cars in Florida or New York State should be left running for at least one year.
The Biden administration has been pushing to increase production and exports in Europe. This is after Russian President Vladimir Putin cut off natural gasoline to Germany and other European countries as a result of sanctions and embargoes against Russian oil. While it is important to not do business with Russia in order to support Ukraine, where Putin launched a devastating and bloody conflict, environmentalists warn that the U.S. fossil fuel industry must not be allowed use the crisis to build new pipelines and export terminals.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is only the most recent disruption. U.S. oil and gas markets saw what Zibel calls “seismic changes” over the past decade. The fracking boom, which caused water pollution and air pollution in the U.S., sent prices plummeting. These are two reasons why the industry is so popular. hemorrhaged investorsPrices are still high. The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily decreased global demand for oil and gasoline, opening up opportunities for profit once the restrictions were lifted.
U.S. oil & gas exports have been risen steadilySince 2015, Congress lifted a ban against crude oil exports. The industry also pushed for new terminals during the fracking boom. Zibel says that unregulated exports made American consumers more vulnerable to volatile international energy markets. A recent survey found that 69 percent of fossil fuel executives think the “age of inexpensive gas”The U.S. will end by 2025 as exports expand to Europe.
Zibel reports that new export terminals, like the one operating near Dardar’s home in southern Louisiana, allowed the industry to further integrate in international markets while keeping prices higher at home, particularly for gas that heats about nearly half of all homes in the U.S. Meanwhile, the U.S.’s drilling rigs, pipelines processing facilities, and refineries that supply fuel to global markets are locking into production that will release polluting gases and cause environmental damage to public lands, waters, and waterways.
Zibel argues that rapidly reducing our relianceFossil fuels are the best way to solve these export problems, which is what the Biden administration is striving towards with new infrastructure funding.
However, Russia invaded Ukraine. lobbyistsBoth the industry and the government are aggressively pushingBiden administration calls for expansion of drilling, pipelines, export terminals and other infrastructure, echoing Republican calls to dole out blames for the Biden administration’s alleged hamstringing of the industry (oil production). increasedThere are many reasons President Joe Biden has signed the Inflation Relief Act. Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act. This includes historic climate spending, but also allows for highly controversial pipelines or export terminals in exchange for renewables investments.
The White House has not been threatened by high energy bills despite the fact that it is facing them. reportedly ruled outThis winter, restrictions were placed on natural gas exports. Biden also called Amos Hochstein, who was a contractor. as an LNG executiveDuring the Trump administration, Hochstein also advised a Ukrainian gas company and was appointed top adviser to the State Department. The White House calls Hochstein an “energy whisperer” who can help to navigate rough waters during a fuel crunch. Hochstein is an indicator that consumers advocates and climate activists are no longer concerned about domestic energy prices or fossil fuel pollution.
Joanie Steinhaus from Turtle Island Restoration Network is the Gulf program director. She said that pollution from fossil fuels has already caused overburdenment in frontline communities. Steinhaus and other activists are currently working together to stop the pollution. Sea Port Oil TerminalA terminal proposed on the coast of Texas to export 2 million barrels per day.
“Communities have had to sacrifice their health, face decreases in property value, the risk of leakage from pipelines, toxic emissions and the potential for catastrophic disasters,” Steinhaus said in a recent statement. “We need to stop the expansion of fossil fuel facilities and stop the escalation of climate change.”
