Editorial -- Energy Prices Triple in Some Parts of the Country

On Monday, Rep. John Joyce of PA talked about how energy prices have tripled for one of his constituents. In his own words:

Madam Speaker, last week, I heard from a woman in my district who told me about the direct impact that rising energy prices are having on her family. This year, her energy bill will climb from $135 to $398 a month.

This constituent is not alone, and because of this record setting inflation, two thirds of Americans have been forced to use their savings just to pay for everyday expenses.

…

Instead of using American energy, President Biden is preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia in an attempt to bring more foreign oil into our markets here in America.

Americans cannot afford these record setting prices, and we cannot afford to allow the Biden administration to continue its war on American energy.

Not only is President Biden seeking to import even more oil into the country as his “solution,” he is groveling before a nation whose human rights record is even worse than Russia’s. On March 12th, Human Rights Watch and Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia executed 81 men in a mass execution which was one of the biggest in its history. None of these men received a fair trial. 

And Saudi Arabia, like Russia, conducted a war of aggression against one of its neighbors when it conducted a seven year war of choice in Yemen, aided and abetted by the US. So apparently, the US is OK with wars of aggression when an ally conducts it. It’s just when someone like Russia or China does it that the US suddenly engages in virtue signaling on human rights and demands that we all have to make sacrifices so we can “stick it to the Russians.”

If the US must purchase oil from a foreign source as a temporary solution for high fuel prices, Venezuela would be the lesser evil. While they also have an abysmal human rights record according to Human Rights Watch, they have not attacked their neighbors like Saudi Arabia or Russia have.

But the real solutions have to start here at home. This is not going to please anyone, but the US has to put aside partisan differences for the common good. The Republicans are right that we have to tap into our own energy sources in order to address skyrocketing gas prices. The Democrats are right that manmade Climate Change is a danger, and that we have to develop wind, solar, and electric vehicles to replace coal and oil. 

And the wind farms have provided a windfall for the North Nodaway school. While the money is not guaranteed down the road and it does not solve all their problems, it has allowed the school to give their staff raises and do work on the facilities that they have put off in the past.