While media bias is a foregone conclusion for most Americans, it’s still a marvel to watch the industry swing into action at some of the most critical times.
On Tuesday, nearly two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. would ban all imports of Russian oil, gas and energy, while warning the nation that “defending freedom is going to cost. It’s going to cost us, as well.”
At the same time, Biden is coming under fire from the right for refusing to ramp up domestic oil production, and he insisted Tuesday that he wasn’t standing in the way, “It’s simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production.”
❌ Fact check false ❌
BIDEN: "It’s simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production." pic.twitter.com/7kyLsH7GEO
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) March 8, 2022
CBS News echoed that “false” talking point as noted by NewsBusters’ Kyle Drennen: “CBS rushes to defend Biden from criticism on U.S. losing energy independence on his watch, repeats his false talking point that his policies ‘are not hurting oil production in this country.'”
In the clip below, “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Gayle King said of the president, “He also made it clear that his policies, the Biden administration policies, are not hurting oil production in this country. He wanted to make that clear, too.”
CBS senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang then said, “Right, because that’s what Republicans have been saying very forcefully. Wondering why we can’t just ramp up oil production here. Well, the President just said that oil companies have the option to do that right now, but they aren’t taking it. And we did talk to a commodities expert, a strategist who said that’s exactly right.”
CBS rushes to defend Biden from criticism on U.S. losing energy independence on his watch, repeats his false talking point that his policies “are not hurting oil production in this country.” pic.twitter.com/Wj1fPtCIus
— Kyle Drennen (@kjdrennen) March 8, 2022
One of Biden’s first actions as president was to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline and he also signed an executive order halting new oil and gas leases. On that note, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has been pushing another misleading talking point about unused oil and gas leases, saying Monday “there are 9,000 approved drilling permits that are not being used.”
American Petroleum Institute president and CEO Mike Sommers told FOX Business that accusation is “a complete red herring.”
“Right now we actually are developing more leases than we have in two decades so the White House certainly doesn’t have their facts straight on this,” he explained.
Sommers further explained that leases are pulled before it’s known if there is oil in the ground — meaning that many of the unused leases simply didn’t pan out.
“Once you lease land there is a whole process that you have to go through,” he said. “First you have to actually discover whether actually there is oil and gas in that land. Second of all, you have to get a permit to actually develop that land.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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