EDITOR, The Tribune.

Who would’ve thought that Bahamians would have to pay an astounding $7 for one gallon of gasoline? A 2022 Chevrolet Equinox gasoline tank holds 14.9 gallons. For Equinox owners in New Providence to fill theirs would cost $110.11, which is over half the minimum wage. With Nassau’s daily traffic jams due to heavy congestion, motorists are consuming large amounts of fuel with no relief in sight. On Mayaguana, gasoline costs $9 a gallon, which means that an Equinox tank would need $134 to fill. This fuel crisis is beyond the control of the Bahamian government, and is impacting virtually every aspect of the economy.

This is the inflation nightmare we are currently experiencing, in large part because of US President Joe Biden’s climate change policies which have frustrated US domestic oil producers since his inauguration in January 2021. Biden has attempted to ram his climate change policies down the throats of Americans and it has had disastrous consequences. One of Biden’s first moves as president was the canceling of the important Keystone XL Pipeline project, which would’ve provided the US with over 800 thousand barrels of oil per day out of Canada. In recent days, Biden seems to have eaten his own climate change words, as he has reached out to oil giants such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Marathon Petroleum, British Petroleum and Phillips 66, asking them to use their high profits to invest with the aim of increasing their capacity in oil production. It is these oil producers who have endured a hostile environment since the advent of the Biden presidency, living under the constant threat of new taxation on windfall profits; termination of federal oil leases; the obstruction of constructing new pipelines and the imposition of onerous environmentally friendly requirements. It is these oil producers who have been demonised by climate change lobbyists, many of whom are staunch Biden supporters.

With inflation at 8.6 percent - a 40-year high - coupled with the national average price of $4.98 for gasoline, Biden has seen his overall approval rating plummet to 39 percent, according to Reuters. He is currently more unpopular than former President Jimmy Carter. The midterm elections are scheduled for November and the Democratic Party is in grave danger of losing control of the Senate. One of the most vulnerable Democratic senators is Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who has supported the Gas Prices Relief Act in the Senate, which is only a discount of 18 cents per gallon. Americans are placing the blame for the oil inflation nightmare at the doorsteps of 1,600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC.

They’re not blaming the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In all things considered, Biden is probably now realising that the average American household cannot afford his climate change pipe dream. Wealthy celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Watson and Prince William and Princess Kate, who attended COP26 can, but most people are financially unable to. This can explain why 56 percent of Americans, many of whom voted against Donald Trump, disapproves of Biden’s performance. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, Biden is scheduled to meet with OPEC head Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman next month in order to prod OPEC to ramp up oil production. This is the same Saudi leader Biden had called a pariah, due to allegations that Saudi authorities were involved in the demise of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 in Istanbul. Biden had once promised to reduce his country’s reliance on Saudi oil, perhaps in keeping with his green earth rhetoric.

I read that Biden also wants to ease sanctions on Iran and Venezuela -- two OPEC countries at odds with the US. However, Iranian and Venezuelan oil has a higher sulphur content than US oil, as US oil firms are under stricter regulations than OPEC. This fact alone has led some US observers to query if Biden considers OPEC oil to be better than American oil? Another thing, if OPEC member states such as Iran, Kuwait, Algeria, Nigeria, Libya, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia ramp up production, wouldn’t that harm Mother Earth? These countries share the same planet with the US. Remember, the average price of gasoline in California in 2020 was $3.04. That was when Donald Trump was president. California is a Democratic Party bastion. It is the home of Governor Garvin Newsom and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Biden won California’s 55 electoral votes on 68 percent of the votes. Today, the average price of gasoline in The Golden State is $6.38. Understand, the ongoing fuel inflation nightmare was brought upon us by the anti-fossil fuel policies of President Joe Biden. When you pay $134 in New Providence to fill up your Chevy Equinox, remember that. Remember that it is his climate change policies which have brought this crisis on us, not Putin or Volodymyr Zelensky or COVID-19. It is his administration’s cumbersome regulations which have tied the hands of US oil firms, resulting in this limited supply and high demand crisis.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama

June 26, 2022.