This morning, President Joe Biden announced an executive order that will ban the import of Russian oil, liquified natural gas, and coal to the United States, as part of a plan to cut Russia off from the world economy. Biden did this under pressure from Congress, which was preparing its own bill for this outcome. The administration hesitated to take this step independently from other allies and partners. In 2021, the U.S. imported only 3% of its oil from Russia, and that number has been dropping in 2022, while Europe is not in a position to cut off Russian oil, although the European Union did offer a plan to cut Russian gas imports by two thirds this year, and Britain declared it would stop importing Russian oil in 2023.
Dr. Richardson, I am amazed at the amount of information you research, collect, parse, and assemble into something that is so brief (considering what you must start with and sift through) and understandable that even I can 'get it.' I reach this conclusion partially by looking at -- and sometimes following -- your MANY cites and sources. Several times I have imagined scores of student assistants or full-time staff devoted to your topic(s) of the day, maybe like a news staff working for a media journalist; else, how do you do it?
I won't pry any further into professional professorial trade secrets. It is enough for me to know that you do what you do, and why you do it -- to our great edification. And through us the truth travels far....
I installed solar in 2002 and bought my first electric car the same year. The money I saved by not buying gasoline and electricity paid for the solar in 2010. Since then, and for the rest of my life, I power my home, cars, and motorcycles on clean renewable energy - for free.
When I did it, solar was expensive and EVs were rare and costly. Today, solar is cheaper than grid power, and EVs are plentiful and on par with the cost of gas cars.
Going forward, our job is to never buy another gas car, and to the extent you have influence, don't let your friends, family, co-workers, or neighbors buy one either.
What the Republican liars about the Keystone XL didn't say was that ALL OF THAT OIL was Canadian, and was destined for foreign sales, none of it for the U.S. We were just the territory it would ooze across, and be the ones who would deal with the inevitable leaks and oil spills in the middle of the Oglala Aquifier - which (barely now) keeps the farmers who are dumb enough to vote for that con artist in business as farmers.
I was and am totally in favor of President Biden's move to freeze the permits for drilling rights on Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- and I hope that they will be forever frozen regardless of the financial hits that it may give the western states. They can find new ways to make money through more ecological and climate friendly measures. It is inconceivable that a wildlife refuge designation could be placed under such threats!!!
"On November 17, 2020, after he lost the election, former president Trump abruptly allowed oil and gas companies to pick out land for drilling rights on about 1.6 million acres of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Biden froze those permits as soon as he took office. Only about 10% of drilling takes place on public land, and there are currently about 9000 permits already issued that have not been developed."
As you have pointed out, Heather, there are several reasons for the hike in gas prices. Regardless of the reasons, If we have to pay sky high prices for gas at this point in time, and if it means that our tiny bit of hardship will help Ukraine in the long term, so be it! We can walk more, buy more electric cars, and think about the fact that others are suffering far more than us!
Thank you for your insightful analysis of the economic situation vis à vis gas prices this evening. What an eye opener! And, I fully agree with President Biden's solution to the problem!
"'[T]ransforming our economy to run on [electric vehicles], powered by clean energy, will mean that in the future, no one has to worry about gas prices.'"
Tens of millions of Americans and Europeans are itching to do something to help the Ukraine. We are waiting for leaders to call for Oil conservation to stop the need for Russian Oil. Some of us remember a prior oil crisis when leaders called for conservation by simply driving slower, skipping unnecessary trips and wearing a sweater to make up for lowering the thermostat by a degree or two. Can President Biden find the words to inspire such a campaign? We need to feel we are doing something, and it isn't effective unless it is done on a massive scale. Simple?
No one will get any sympathy from me about oil prices. From the beginning of the automobile industry, oil hasbeen a dirty, dangerous business. The same goes for nuclear power. If the men who plowed money into oil, gas and nuclear power had invested in solar energy jnstead, we wouldn't be in this stupid mess.
Thank you for giving us the relevant talking points which we can share with those who shout lies (like McPutin) and the rest of the RePutins. Today I saw a wonderful post. ¨In a world of Putins, be a Zelenskyy¨
Thanks for your letter today. Keystone has played havoc in Canadian politics as well with one of our provinces, British Columbia, at odds with another, Alberta, and Justin Trudeau's liberals trying to mediate between the environmental concerns of First Nations communities and pressure from Alberta to support Keystone to shore up its economy and create jobs. I have been following this story for a long time. But this short piece is the best overview I have read to date of the issues involved.
I watched FOX last night after watching PBS Newshour to see what FOX was covering in Ukraine. The videos of Ukraine were nearly identical to Newshour without the same on location reporting that I saw on Newshour. It seemed FOX viewers were getting close to the same news filming but not the same on location explanations and empathy in the Newshour reporting where additional time was spent.
When the FOX's Ukraine coverage was over, they switched from a single anchor person to a table of four people bantering about with each other. Video showed Biden's announcement banning all Russian gas & oil, which seemed to include important parts of his press announcement. Then a video came on with Pamela Harris making a statement about renewable energy. The video was edited and not flattering to Harris. Then a FOX blonde started the most "dumb blonde" (sorry this is FOX) routines I have seen. I don't watch FOX so I am not used to this dumbing down method to get your audience thinking dumb is smart. The woman said Harris was "out of touch", that Americans need cheap gasoline not $60,000 electric cars, that Democrats are causing fuel prices to skyrocket and don't care about Americans. This went on without any more news reports until my wife demanded I turn off the TV before she chucked it out of our house onto the frozen lawn.
We also installed solar panels on our house more than 5 years ago here in Maine where winters are cloudy, and summers are not clear 100% as they are for our daughter in NM. The state and Federal rebates cut the costs in half. We pay about $12/month for electricity and are still paying off the solar. But we also bought a Nissan Leaf for our local driving, that cost only $15k new after subsidies. There have been absolutely no service expenses, no oil changes, no antifreeze. No trips to the dealer. And we could not have bought a new gasoline engine vehicle for $15k at the time. We didn't pay the "dumb blonde's" $60,000 which she would have done because everyone sitting at that FOX table is paid way more than their brains can keep track of. Out of touch? FOX, as Putin does, has a way of carrying on with brain numbing drivel about imaginary assassins attacking the FOX and Putin world. For FOX, it's "Democrats". For Putin, it's "Ukrainians". FOX calls Democrats "socialists". Putin calls Ukrainians "brothers" led by "Nazis" and then kills them all while real time videos show little old ladies and men trying to escape through bombed apartment rubble, young mothers and children trying to board trains and living in masses of dislocated refugees, and men of all ages with no experience trying to join a military defense. The differences in human values and character between the Ukrainians and the FOX/Putin teams are day and night, or in my mind good and evil.
So much here and so little time, alas; I feel the need to put out a statement. Not that I'm in a position to expound, but I figure this is a safe crowd...<smile>
Much as has been made clear by HCR: the oil and gas (OG) industry has reaped (reapt?) tremendous profits, as most know, and have never NOT. While it is hard to ignore, industry advocates will try to declare that these profits are ALL going back into the difficult job they have going forward with a diminishing supply and increasing demand (BS, it's about profit). I won't get into what a "reasonable" profit is, here, but I'd say...just using fuzzy "Dubya" math, that the industry is returning profits just fine. I don't hold shares in them but I see the stock tickers...
When Biden halted development of domestic production (read, no NEW permits on Federal/Public land) he didn't invalidate any existing permits. As HCR pointed out, and I concur, Biden's Order left in-place 9000 (NINE THOUSAND) issued but not-acted-upon permits to take minerals from the public's land. Didn't say or do or limit ANY private grants...truth be told, many of the authorizations in North Dakota, in particular, do NOT implicate Federal Land and don't even TOUCH previously granted permits and leases. But I digress.
I find it at best obtuse that the party that claims to be the 'savior' of OG didn't give two licks about future leases when he-shall-not-be-named was in control didn't make it a priority. IF leases were an issue, you can bet that they were quietly granted, but I guess that doesn't fit into a sound-bite. In other words, the current administration is not revoking or limiting a THING that has been approved with respect to current leases. Any suggestion otherwise is, "fake news."
With respect to Russian oil, our domestic needs only implicate the USSR in a tiny way (1-3%) and Biden's announcement seems to be a symbolic effort on our part, despite the huge media-hype over today's announcement (OTOH, there are refineries that are specific to Russian Crude that are not tooled for other inputs). That said (and acknowledged) I'm NOT excited about replacing our tiny Russian contribution to our energy needs with approaching Venezuela for that production; I'm just not. I'd rather lean into Canada, if necessary, than lean on another shitty authoritarian regime we historically oppose and is just as bad as any petty-dictatorial regime we profess to oppose...
I totally get that this calculation for us is different if you are in Europe and you rely to a greater extent on Russia for carbon (which they certainly do), but that is a horse of a different colour. We can do what we can do: and we are by no-means energy poor, here. While difficult, I stand with Mr. Colbert (and maybe I'm just affluent enough to do it) when he said, "I'd pay ____" to prove the point that we all stand united against this regime and not support its illegal war on Ukraine... by agreeing to pay more at the pump (but then also admitted he drove a Tesla(?). I would agree to that suffering, too: but I' m also not the electrician who HAS TO drive to the customer's site or the gal that HAS TO drive to her place of employment... these decisions to 'screw' Putin are regressive in effect. Any bleeding-heart-for-Ukraine HAS TO understand that if this struggle is, in any way, tied to the cost of their ability to WORK: it will have consequences at the ballot-box. Joe and Jane 'six-pack' for the most part care about THEIR families and THEIR bottom-line. 15-75 cents a gallon is a huge burden for folks who drive to or for work.
I applaud some of the folks who want a Federal Gas Tax holiday to take the burden down of high prices for gas down (States could do the same by the by). But at the end of the day it will be an economic grudge-match with a petty dictator who HAPPENS to have a bunch of REAL nukes at his disposal; this is not Kim Jong here. Until others around Putin convince him to stand-down or he pushes his Country to a point (global war and nuclear options) that even his own people (the DUMA) can't accept, he calls the shots. It ultimately will be on the Russian people to fix this and hopefully not as drastic a result as Lyndsey Graham has suggested (idiot).
It seems that, for now, the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is not enough to sway anyone who has a conscience in the DUMA. They stand with Putin, despite the fact that he is as close to a dictator as anyone since Hitler and has basically holed-himself-up in a compound akin to Hitler's bunker (Sochi). Once the Oligarchs realize that they have more to lose than to gain in this struggle, I expect they will act, but not before the rest of the World forces their hand.
As much as we are all, "for," Ukraine, now, we do have history with them and rest of the World needs to consider that even Ukraine poked the Bear. They took steps, very harsh steps, to push away from Russia, including not recognizing the Russian language (officially) and rejecting the Country in its official dictates. While this is certainly appropriate for them to do, those efforts behind that the scenes that have not been reported in the media also contribute to the attitude Russia has. It's not a concession, mind you, but a cautionary note that not all of this is just about territory and NATO. We had a chance to make a bigger deal with this conflict almost a decade ago and didn't. He who shall-not-be-named made our position worse by cuddling Putin and essentially, politically, communicating to him that Ukraine would not get the support of the US, at least not going forward. That, in my mind, opened the door for him to start down this path. The WEST is complicit here. The US AND NATO. Shades of the conflict in Crimea should be considered when we all gasp at this aggression, now. Who stopped him then?!
Putin (and many Russians) sees Ukraine as what it was; a part of the Soviet Republic. Growing pains are what they are and I stand with Ukraine. They are no different than than that little group of loosely-allied 'states' that declared that they wanted independence from King George. We are the United States of America. If you don't accept that: let's go! and we did. Rightly or wrongly, with a few gaffs, Ukraine is us. We (the World's powers) should not look away and I hope we have the same resolve when China makes a similar move on Taiwan...
Dr. Richardson, I thank you, as always I do. Based on the information you have so cogently explained about gas and oil complexities, I dare say that the Republican naysayers have not cared to research the truth about situations. They simply blather nonsense to their gullible fans. Fortunately, you, Dr. Richardson have an enormous fan base, also, and that is a good thing for America.
Many of us have for years been calling on Congress for a wartime mobilization of deploying clean energy to end our reliance on fossil fuels, and it seems like this is the perfect time to make a big push in this direction. How many decades has oil been one of the leading drivers in global instability? That instability will only get worse as the effects of climate change become even more severe. The only path to true energy independence is renewable energy, and we ought to link that idea to patriotism and national security now more than ever.
Dr. Richardson, I am amazed at the amount of information you research, collect, parse, and assemble into something that is so brief (considering what you must start with and sift through) and understandable that even I can 'get it.' I reach this conclusion partially by looking at -- and sometimes following -- your MANY cites and sources. Several times I have imagined scores of student assistants or full-time staff devoted to your topic(s) of the day, maybe like a news staff working for a media journalist; else, how do you do it?
I won't pry any further into professional professorial trade secrets. It is enough for me to know that you do what you do, and why you do it -- to our great edification. And through us the truth travels far....
With my greatest admiration and thanks!
I installed solar in 2002 and bought my first electric car the same year. The money I saved by not buying gasoline and electricity paid for the solar in 2010. Since then, and for the rest of my life, I power my home, cars, and motorcycles on clean renewable energy - for free.
When I did it, solar was expensive and EVs were rare and costly. Today, solar is cheaper than grid power, and EVs are plentiful and on par with the cost of gas cars.
Going forward, our job is to never buy another gas car, and to the extent you have influence, don't let your friends, family, co-workers, or neighbors buy one either.
What the Republican liars about the Keystone XL didn't say was that ALL OF THAT OIL was Canadian, and was destined for foreign sales, none of it for the U.S. We were just the territory it would ooze across, and be the ones who would deal with the inevitable leaks and oil spills in the middle of the Oglala Aquifier - which (barely now) keeps the farmers who are dumb enough to vote for that con artist in business as farmers.
I was and am totally in favor of President Biden's move to freeze the permits for drilling rights on Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- and I hope that they will be forever frozen regardless of the financial hits that it may give the western states. They can find new ways to make money through more ecological and climate friendly measures. It is inconceivable that a wildlife refuge designation could be placed under such threats!!!
"On November 17, 2020, after he lost the election, former president Trump abruptly allowed oil and gas companies to pick out land for drilling rights on about 1.6 million acres of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Biden froze those permits as soon as he took office. Only about 10% of drilling takes place on public land, and there are currently about 9000 permits already issued that have not been developed."
As you have pointed out, Heather, there are several reasons for the hike in gas prices. Regardless of the reasons, If we have to pay sky high prices for gas at this point in time, and if it means that our tiny bit of hardship will help Ukraine in the long term, so be it! We can walk more, buy more electric cars, and think about the fact that others are suffering far more than us!
Thank you for your insightful analysis of the economic situation vis à vis gas prices this evening. What an eye opener! And, I fully agree with President Biden's solution to the problem!
"'[T]ransforming our economy to run on [electric vehicles], powered by clean energy, will mean that in the future, no one has to worry about gas prices.'"
If only people had listened to President Carter. Our reliance on fossil fuels would be minimized by now.
Tens of millions of Americans and Europeans are itching to do something to help the Ukraine. We are waiting for leaders to call for Oil conservation to stop the need for Russian Oil. Some of us remember a prior oil crisis when leaders called for conservation by simply driving slower, skipping unnecessary trips and wearing a sweater to make up for lowering the thermostat by a degree or two. Can President Biden find the words to inspire such a campaign? We need to feel we are doing something, and it isn't effective unless it is done on a massive scale. Simple?
Rising prices at the gas pump? That gets voters’ attention. Rising sea levels, so far not.
No one will get any sympathy from me about oil prices. From the beginning of the automobile industry, oil hasbeen a dirty, dangerous business. The same goes for nuclear power. If the men who plowed money into oil, gas and nuclear power had invested in solar energy jnstead, we wouldn't be in this stupid mess.
We have a very smart President. He’s making excellent decisions through and through.
It feels so good to say those things!!!
Thank you, Professor for finally explaining that pipeline issue for me. Thanks for a great Letter. 😊
Thank you for giving us the relevant talking points which we can share with those who shout lies (like McPutin) and the rest of the RePutins. Today I saw a wonderful post. ¨In a world of Putins, be a Zelenskyy¨
Thanks for your letter today. Keystone has played havoc in Canadian politics as well with one of our provinces, British Columbia, at odds with another, Alberta, and Justin Trudeau's liberals trying to mediate between the environmental concerns of First Nations communities and pressure from Alberta to support Keystone to shore up its economy and create jobs. I have been following this story for a long time. But this short piece is the best overview I have read to date of the issues involved.
I watched FOX last night after watching PBS Newshour to see what FOX was covering in Ukraine. The videos of Ukraine were nearly identical to Newshour without the same on location reporting that I saw on Newshour. It seemed FOX viewers were getting close to the same news filming but not the same on location explanations and empathy in the Newshour reporting where additional time was spent.
When the FOX's Ukraine coverage was over, they switched from a single anchor person to a table of four people bantering about with each other. Video showed Biden's announcement banning all Russian gas & oil, which seemed to include important parts of his press announcement. Then a video came on with Pamela Harris making a statement about renewable energy. The video was edited and not flattering to Harris. Then a FOX blonde started the most "dumb blonde" (sorry this is FOX) routines I have seen. I don't watch FOX so I am not used to this dumbing down method to get your audience thinking dumb is smart. The woman said Harris was "out of touch", that Americans need cheap gasoline not $60,000 electric cars, that Democrats are causing fuel prices to skyrocket and don't care about Americans. This went on without any more news reports until my wife demanded I turn off the TV before she chucked it out of our house onto the frozen lawn.
We also installed solar panels on our house more than 5 years ago here in Maine where winters are cloudy, and summers are not clear 100% as they are for our daughter in NM. The state and Federal rebates cut the costs in half. We pay about $12/month for electricity and are still paying off the solar. But we also bought a Nissan Leaf for our local driving, that cost only $15k new after subsidies. There have been absolutely no service expenses, no oil changes, no antifreeze. No trips to the dealer. And we could not have bought a new gasoline engine vehicle for $15k at the time. We didn't pay the "dumb blonde's" $60,000 which she would have done because everyone sitting at that FOX table is paid way more than their brains can keep track of. Out of touch? FOX, as Putin does, has a way of carrying on with brain numbing drivel about imaginary assassins attacking the FOX and Putin world. For FOX, it's "Democrats". For Putin, it's "Ukrainians". FOX calls Democrats "socialists". Putin calls Ukrainians "brothers" led by "Nazis" and then kills them all while real time videos show little old ladies and men trying to escape through bombed apartment rubble, young mothers and children trying to board trains and living in masses of dislocated refugees, and men of all ages with no experience trying to join a military defense. The differences in human values and character between the Ukrainians and the FOX/Putin teams are day and night, or in my mind good and evil.
So much here and so little time, alas; I feel the need to put out a statement. Not that I'm in a position to expound, but I figure this is a safe crowd...<smile>
Much as has been made clear by HCR: the oil and gas (OG) industry has reaped (reapt?) tremendous profits, as most know, and have never NOT. While it is hard to ignore, industry advocates will try to declare that these profits are ALL going back into the difficult job they have going forward with a diminishing supply and increasing demand (BS, it's about profit). I won't get into what a "reasonable" profit is, here, but I'd say...just using fuzzy "Dubya" math, that the industry is returning profits just fine. I don't hold shares in them but I see the stock tickers...
When Biden halted development of domestic production (read, no NEW permits on Federal/Public land) he didn't invalidate any existing permits. As HCR pointed out, and I concur, Biden's Order left in-place 9000 (NINE THOUSAND) issued but not-acted-upon permits to take minerals from the public's land. Didn't say or do or limit ANY private grants...truth be told, many of the authorizations in North Dakota, in particular, do NOT implicate Federal Land and don't even TOUCH previously granted permits and leases. But I digress.
I find it at best obtuse that the party that claims to be the 'savior' of OG didn't give two licks about future leases when he-shall-not-be-named was in control didn't make it a priority. IF leases were an issue, you can bet that they were quietly granted, but I guess that doesn't fit into a sound-bite. In other words, the current administration is not revoking or limiting a THING that has been approved with respect to current leases. Any suggestion otherwise is, "fake news."
With respect to Russian oil, our domestic needs only implicate the USSR in a tiny way (1-3%) and Biden's announcement seems to be a symbolic effort on our part, despite the huge media-hype over today's announcement (OTOH, there are refineries that are specific to Russian Crude that are not tooled for other inputs). That said (and acknowledged) I'm NOT excited about replacing our tiny Russian contribution to our energy needs with approaching Venezuela for that production; I'm just not. I'd rather lean into Canada, if necessary, than lean on another shitty authoritarian regime we historically oppose and is just as bad as any petty-dictatorial regime we profess to oppose...
I totally get that this calculation for us is different if you are in Europe and you rely to a greater extent on Russia for carbon (which they certainly do), but that is a horse of a different colour. We can do what we can do: and we are by no-means energy poor, here. While difficult, I stand with Mr. Colbert (and maybe I'm just affluent enough to do it) when he said, "I'd pay ____" to prove the point that we all stand united against this regime and not support its illegal war on Ukraine... by agreeing to pay more at the pump (but then also admitted he drove a Tesla(?). I would agree to that suffering, too: but I' m also not the electrician who HAS TO drive to the customer's site or the gal that HAS TO drive to her place of employment... these decisions to 'screw' Putin are regressive in effect. Any bleeding-heart-for-Ukraine HAS TO understand that if this struggle is, in any way, tied to the cost of their ability to WORK: it will have consequences at the ballot-box. Joe and Jane 'six-pack' for the most part care about THEIR families and THEIR bottom-line. 15-75 cents a gallon is a huge burden for folks who drive to or for work.
I applaud some of the folks who want a Federal Gas Tax holiday to take the burden down of high prices for gas down (States could do the same by the by). But at the end of the day it will be an economic grudge-match with a petty dictator who HAPPENS to have a bunch of REAL nukes at his disposal; this is not Kim Jong here. Until others around Putin convince him to stand-down or he pushes his Country to a point (global war and nuclear options) that even his own people (the DUMA) can't accept, he calls the shots. It ultimately will be on the Russian people to fix this and hopefully not as drastic a result as Lyndsey Graham has suggested (idiot).
It seems that, for now, the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is not enough to sway anyone who has a conscience in the DUMA. They stand with Putin, despite the fact that he is as close to a dictator as anyone since Hitler and has basically holed-himself-up in a compound akin to Hitler's bunker (Sochi). Once the Oligarchs realize that they have more to lose than to gain in this struggle, I expect they will act, but not before the rest of the World forces their hand.
As much as we are all, "for," Ukraine, now, we do have history with them and rest of the World needs to consider that even Ukraine poked the Bear. They took steps, very harsh steps, to push away from Russia, including not recognizing the Russian language (officially) and rejecting the Country in its official dictates. While this is certainly appropriate for them to do, those efforts behind that the scenes that have not been reported in the media also contribute to the attitude Russia has. It's not a concession, mind you, but a cautionary note that not all of this is just about territory and NATO. We had a chance to make a bigger deal with this conflict almost a decade ago and didn't. He who shall-not-be-named made our position worse by cuddling Putin and essentially, politically, communicating to him that Ukraine would not get the support of the US, at least not going forward. That, in my mind, opened the door for him to start down this path. The WEST is complicit here. The US AND NATO. Shades of the conflict in Crimea should be considered when we all gasp at this aggression, now. Who stopped him then?!
Putin (and many Russians) sees Ukraine as what it was; a part of the Soviet Republic. Growing pains are what they are and I stand with Ukraine. They are no different than than that little group of loosely-allied 'states' that declared that they wanted independence from King George. We are the United States of America. If you don't accept that: let's go! and we did. Rightly or wrongly, with a few gaffs, Ukraine is us. We (the World's powers) should not look away and I hope we have the same resolve when China makes a similar move on Taiwan...
“… a near-record $38 to $41 billion to shareholders through stock buybacks, after distributing $50 billion in dividends.”
How is it that American taxpayers also subsidize our oil companies by $5.9 trillion annually?
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/fossil-fuels-received-5-9-trillion-in-subsidies-in-2020-report-finds
…Just curious.
Dr. Richardson, I thank you, as always I do. Based on the information you have so cogently explained about gas and oil complexities, I dare say that the Republican naysayers have not cared to research the truth about situations. They simply blather nonsense to their gullible fans. Fortunately, you, Dr. Richardson have an enormous fan base, also, and that is a good thing for America.
Many of us have for years been calling on Congress for a wartime mobilization of deploying clean energy to end our reliance on fossil fuels, and it seems like this is the perfect time to make a big push in this direction. How many decades has oil been one of the leading drivers in global instability? That instability will only get worse as the effects of climate change become even more severe. The only path to true energy independence is renewable energy, and we ought to link that idea to patriotism and national security now more than ever.