The White House will soon decide whether to shut down another oil pipeline. That this is even under consideration tells a lot about the Biden administration’s failed energy strategy. Head out to the gas station if you need proof. Gasoline prices averaged around $2.15 when President Biden was inaugurated. Since then prices have since soared 60%. Crude oil that traded for $53 a barrel in January now fetches $83.

Plus, too, American crude oil production that peaked shortly before the Covid pandemic is still lurking below its Trump-era highs. Secretary Granholm chortled heartily in a recent Bloomberg interview when asked what her plan was to increase oil production. “That is hilarious,” the ex-governor of Michigan replied. “Would that I had the magic wand on this.” She complained that “OPEC is unfortunately controlling the agenda.”

Ms. Granholm erroneously claimed that OPEC controls more than 50% of the oil market when in fact it accounts for 38%. One would think the Energy Secretary would be better informed. The OPEC cartel, meantime, stiff-armed a recent request from Mr. Biden to increase production. Yet who could blame foreign oil producers for not increasing production. They are enjoying a windfall from the current oil price spike.

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Photo of Secretary Granholm, IAEA Imagebank.

It must be a relief for them to rake in the profits from oil that is twice as expensive as it was a year ago. The idea that an American president had to go hat in hand to the Middle East and Moscow to beg for a price cut is a humiliation. What did his voters expect? The President’s green team has shown open hostility to fossil fuels, focusing instead on the potential for expensive next-generation technology to save the planet.

The White House has taken steps to cut America’s energy production by banning the Keystone XL pipeline, suspending new oil and gas leases on federal land, and first supporting then abandoning a major oil drilling effort in Alaska. Now it’s reviewing shutting down the Enbridge L5 pipeline to Canada from Michigan. It carries 540,000 barrels of Canadian oil and liquid natural gas from western provinces through Michigan and back to Canada.

America is obligated by treaty to keep this pipeline open, but Governor Whitmer in Michigan and environmentalists want it closed. This disruptions would pulse through oil markets, raising costs on Americans and Canadians alike. As well, closing the pipeline would require 2,100 tanker trucks and 800 railroad cars traversing Michigan to keep the oil flowing. Americans, meantime, face higher home heating bills this winter.

How things have changed from three years ago when President Donald Trump announced that America had become energy independent for the first time in 70 years. By harnessing the potential of the fracking revolution, reigning in the Environmental Protection Agency, and premeditating policies that maximize energy production, Mr. Trump was able to lower prices, create jobs, and end America’s dependence on foreign energy sources.

Instead of a future of energy scarcity and diminishing choices America was increasingly in a position to dictate its energy future. The Biden administration has wrecked this framework, aided by a weak Federal Reserve pumping irredeemable electronic paper ticket money into the economy. Higher oil prices also reward adversaries like Russia and Iran and reduce America’s options in dealing with crises abroad. It doesn’t take a magic wand to solve the energy crisis, just the right policies.