Talk about a seismic shift, with already high gas prices skyrocketing in the Unites States and President Biden shifting from blaming the pandemic to now point his finger at Russia, some on the left are coming around to the idea that America has the capacity to be self reliant on energy.
MSNBC anchor Katy Tur appeared to have come around to this realization when she remarked Tuesday how it’s “insane” that the U.S. is dependent on “authoritarian leaders” for energy when we could be “self-reliant on our own energy.”
The remark came during a discussion on Russian oil with NBC News correspondent Heidi Przybyla and while Tur appeared to be talking about green energy, her observation underscores the vast potential of U.S. domestic oil production.
Biden announced Tuesday, nearly two weeks after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, that the U.S. was banning Russian oil, and Przybyla noted that the administration was pressured into making the move.
“This is really one of those rare moments where we saw unity between both the business world and the political world. This comes after a really two-week campaign on Capitol Hill that was bipartisan saying this is something that we need to do,” she said. “At the same time industry was already moving in this direction with BP and Exxon saying that they were going to limit oil imports and cut ties. And so this was something the administration came to really, with a pressure campaign, an agreement across the board that this is something that we need to do.”
“Now as for the impact here, they are also bracing Americans that in the words of Biden defending freedom is going to come at a cost,” Przybyla continued. “And, look, the 40-year increase in inflation that we’re seeing right now is largely driven by, guess what, oil and gas prices. And so you can see where this is heading. No one is denying this isn’t going to send those prices even higher but they’re saying that this is something that has to happen, because even though it might not immediately have a devastating impact on Russia, this is a way to pressure the Europeans who really are the life blood of that market for the Russians to start to step in a similar direction. We’re already seeing that from the German chancellor saying we need to do this and we need to do this as soon as possible.”
It was when Przybyla pointed out that oil is “very lucrative” for Russia, but that the ban is “not going to be a kneecap to the Russian economy,” that Kur echoed the concerns expressed by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
“We only use about 8 percent. Again, our allies need to get involved, because so much of Europe is dependent on Russian oil,” Tur responded. “It’s also something that Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut brought up today was this just exposes how insane it is that we rely — we rely on energy from authoritarian leaders and we are not self-reliant on our own energy. A lot of talk about why we don’t go green.”
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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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