“To the Department of Energy: DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!! And I mean NOW!!!” Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday. It was a return to one of his central campaign promises, an issue he embarked on during his first term and is keen to reinstitute.
This week, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced it would be freeing up a massive amount of the Gulf of America to oil and gas drilling permits, some 15,000 blocks of federal waters this December.
With concern across the world that Israel’s 12-day war with Iran could mess with global oil supplies, the U.S. becoming energy independent is one of Trump’s top priorities.
According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the Gulf current produces approximately 1.8 million barrels of oil per day, which accounts for roughly 13% of the nation’s oil production. BOEM estimates that the Gulf contains some 48 billion barrels of undiscovered, recoverable oil.
Currently, the U.S. imports roughly 7.5 million barrels per day, despite remaining a net oil exporter.
BOEM celebrated the announcement, noting, “Energy independence is a cornerstone of U.S. economic strength, national security and global stability, boosting American energy dominance and reducing reliance on unstable foreign producers. By continuing to expand offshore capabilities, the United States ensures affordable energy for consumers, strengthens domestic industry and reinforces its role as an energy superpower.”
Thanks to Joe Biden’s anti-fossil fuel green agenda, numerous offshore drilling permits were canceled, while royalty fees on oil and gas companies were increased.
The Trump administration is now reversing this energy malfeasance. And it was malfeasance given the reality that green energy, the most popular of which is wind and solar, is incapable of meeting America’s, let alone the rest of the world’s, energy needs.
The latest report from the Statistical Review of World Energy confirms this reality, noting that in 2024, 86.6% of the world’s total energy consumption was generated by fossil fuels, including oil, natural gas, and coal.
Meanwhile, green energy, which encompasses solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and other renewable sources, accounted for just 5.5% of global energy consumption last year. A “clean energy future is arriving faster than you think,” The New York Times ridiculously predicted in 2023. “Wind and solar power are breaking records, and renewables are now expected to overtake coal by 2025 as the world’s largest source of electricity.”
The Times’s rather baseless predictions aside, it should be clear to everyone that renewables are not the near or even the distant future. Fossil fuels remain the primary source of energy for the world, and based on the evidence, they are likely to continue being so for decades to come.
Net-zero carbon emissions are a pipe dream that politicians have used to exert greater social and economic controls. It is simply a ruse to deceive people into believing that eschewing fossil fuels in the name of saving the planet is a moral good.
Even more concerning is the fact that much of the green dream ideology is tied either directly or indirectly to Communist China and its world economic agenda. Senator Ted Cruz claimed during a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, “There is a coordinated assault by the radical Left, backed and paid for by the Chinese Communist Party, to seize control of our courts, to weaponize litigation against U.S. energy producers, all in order to undermine American energy dominance.”
Cruz cited a report from State Armor that noted, “To secure U.S. dependence, the CCP has been co-opting the progressive American climate change lobby to push a transition from fossil fuels and other critical inputs … onto ‘green’ technologies controlled by China.” The Chinese make roughly two-thirds of the world’s wind turbines and more than 80% of the world’s solar panels.
Cruz’s contention was that China has been funding efforts to push anti-fossil fuel litigation in America’s courts to prevent the U.S. from gaining energy independence or reducing its dependence on materials from China. As Cruz put it, “While China drills and digs, we sue and shut down.”
As evidence for this claim, from 2001 through 2020, Energy Foundation China has shelled out $1.02 billion in grants to green energy organizations to promote an anti-fossil fuel and pro-renewable agenda.
The last thing China wants is for Trump to lead America to energy independence.
