Has anyone informed Joe Biden that he’s leaving the White House in January?
Plenty of outgoing presidents have indeed taken a few last shots, sometimes literally on their way out the door; that seems to be a favored time for signing pardons, for instance. But in one such move that’s something of a head-scratcher, Joe Biden is imposing a new tax on the oil and gas industry – this one on methane emissions.
Advertisement
President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency finalized a new rule Tuesday, taxing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.
The new tax was born out of Biden’s sweeping climate legislation passed by Congress, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, which included a Waste Emissions Charge provision. Although the waste emissions charge was mandated by Congress, the Biden administration had discretion on how tightly to clamp down.
The fee will start at $900 per metric ton of methane emitted over a specific performance level during 2024. In subsequent years, the fee will increase. In 2025, it will grow to $1,200 per metric ton. In 2026, it will increase to $1,500 per ton. Meanwhile, each subsequent year after that, the fee will continue to rise, according to the EPA.
The fee won’t continue to rise, of course, because in January, Lee Zeldin will be taking over the EPA.
See Related: We Have Another Trump Cabinet Pick: Lee Zeldin Gets the Nod
Another aspect of this that’s a trifle baffling is that even some climate change doomsayers are saying it won’t have much effect.
While climate change advocates, such as the Clean Air Task Force, have praised Biden’s rule regulating methane emissions, Steve Milloy, a fellow at the Energy and Environmental Legal Institute, described the action as “irrelevant.” Milloy said that because upwards of 95% or more of the greenhouse gasses trapped by the earth’s atmosphere are water vapor and carbon dioxide, little to no room remains for methane to be stored.
Milloy also suggested the new methane emissions rule will likely be ineffective, considering it targets the oil and gas sector but not the agricultural sector as well.
“The largest source of methane is actually microbes,” Milloy pointed out — as opposed to man-made power plants. Microbes are tiny organisms that live in cow’s stomachs, agricultural fields and wetlands, according to The Washington Post.
Advertisement
Back to cow flatulence, really? With no mention of the methane emissions of the 60 million bison that roamed the Great Plains only a couple of hundred years ago?
Imposing executive actions like this is literally “…a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” The electorate has spoken clearly that they favor Trump’s policies. That, by necessity, includes his stance on energy production, as evidenced not only by his own statements but by his choice of EPA pick. Elections really do have consequences.
See Related: OPINION: Democrats Weren’t the Only Election Losers – Certain Luxury Beliefs Lost As Well
Hours After Trump Won Election, Biden Made Another Radical Move on the Environment
It’s hard to see this action as anything but a virtue signal. Joe Biden, granted, probably has little idea what’s going on, but somebody in the administration has to have decided this was worth doing – why? They have to know that it will be overturned once Donald Trump is once more ensconced at the Resolute Desk in January. Are they setting up some kind of future claim for Democrats in general? “See, we tried to take steps, but Trump overturned them.”
It makes one wonder, just what else the Biden administration will try to do on their way out. But, you know what? No matter what they try to do – they are still on their way out.
Advertisement
