Trump expands his lies about ANWR, Alaska and oil production
Donald Trump has added new lies to his package of falsehoods about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, claiming that the refuge could have been supplying oil by now to all of Asia, including China and Japan, had he remained in the White House.
He also is now claiming that oil from ANWR would have prevented the war in Ukraine and helped the U.S. provide all the energy that Western Europe requires. He has lied in the past that money from ANWR oil is the key to saving Social Security.
There is no end to the money miracles that would come from ANWR oil, according to Trump, who has been repeating and inflating bubble-brained lies about ANWR since 2017.
In a campaign appearance this week on Fox News, Trump launched into his energy spiel with his usual claim, “We’re gonna drill, baby drill. We have more liquid gold than anybody else, including Saudi Arabia.”
Sean Hannity, conducting the Trump praiseathon, interjected a talking point: “Bigger than last time? Because you made us energy independent for the first time in 75 years!”
“You were energy independent,” Trump agreed. He said he would have opened the oil tap to become “energy dominant,” the equivalent of turning the volume up to 11.
“We would have been energy dominant. Well I’ll tell you, ANWR in Alaska, I got it approved. Reagan couldn’t do it. This is the biggest find anywhere in the world, it’s the size of Saudi Arabia, some people say it might even be bigger. Think of it. Saudi Arabia in our country. Alaska, they were all ready, I got it approved. I got everything done.”
“Biden cames in, comes in, the first thing he does is end it. We would have been supplying oil and gas to China, to all of Asia. It’s Alaska. To Japan. We would have, it would have been unbelievable. We would have been paying down debt. He comes in and he rejects it because the environmentalists reject it, has nothing to do with the environment. It’s good for the environment.”
Hannity directed Trump back to dominance.
“When you say energy dominant, would you be able to, to ratchet up production, natural gas, oil, coal?” said Hannity.
“Very quickly,” said Trump.
“Where we could provide all the energy needs to say Western Europe?” said Hannity.
“Yeah,” said Trump.
“And that means Valdimir Putin would be cut off?” said Hannity.
“We would have taken over Western Europe. Oil prices would go down and Vladimir Putin wouldn’t be able to prosecute the war. Look, when they came in they screwed up my energy program. And the prices went through the roof. And Putin went in. If I were president, that would have, number one, we wouldn’t have had inflation.
“Oil wouldn’t have gone up like it did. But it got close to $100 a barrel. He made a lot of money during the war. At $100 a barrel, he makes money. At $40 and $50 a barrel he wouldn’t have even thought about doing it. Biden forced him. He said, he said, we’re gonna raise the price of oil. Oil went up to $100, almost $100 a barrel. Would have gone up even more. You know what they did, they went back to my policy and got it down a little bit. But only a little bit because it wasn’t really my policy.”
“Right now we would be, we would have three to four times more than what we’re doing. But if they didn’t go back to my policy, you would have been paying, you would have been paying literally $20 a gallon for gasoline for your car.”
“They want to get rid of all gas. I will end that immediately by the way. You’re going to be able to get a gas-powered car. You’re going to be able to get a hybrid. You’re going to be able to get an electric car.”
Here is a partial list of Trump lies about oil and gas:
Saudi Arabia is home to one-fifth of the world’s proven oil reserves. No competent scientist or public official believes that ANWR contains anything close to that amount.
The provision to open ANWR was inserted into the 2017 GOP tax law by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, not by Trump.
No oil would have been flowing now from ANWR to China, Japan or anywhere else had Trump been elected in 2020. No oil has been discovered in ANWR and it would take a decade or more to begin production.
ANWR oil is not going to make a dent in the national debt or save Social Security. The claim that ANWR oil would have been flowing by now and would have prevented the war in Ukraine is laughable.
Oil did not rise to $100 a barrel because of Joe Biden’s policies. Oil prices rose because of a surge in worldwide demand after the pandemic. Oil prices and demand for oil collapsed during the pandemic. That had nothing to do with Trump’s energy policies. Four years ago oil was selling for about $40 a barrel. After Russia invaded Ukraine, oil prices briefly rose to nearly $140 a barrel.
Oil production in the U.S. today is at an all-time high.
U.S. oil production would not have tripled or quadrupled had Trump been elected in 2020. The claim that gas prices would have risen to $20 under any policy is a Trump fantasy.
There is no federal mandate to get rid of gasoline-powered cars. There are incentives to purchase electric vehicles.
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