Biden Isn’t Listening to Energy Workers

February 3, 2021

Unfortunately, just a few weeks into President Biden’s administration, we are already seeing the negative side effects of an anti-energy agenda. The eco-left doesn’t like to focus on the immediate, real-world impact of their lofty policies. But, regardless of their focus, hard workers around this country had their livelihood swept out from under them when Biden announced an executive order canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline.

The Dickerson family is just one of thousands who are dealing with the consequences of Biden’s executive order. The Dickerson’s discussed these consequences with Fox News:  

“We’ve had to actually dip into our retirement and our 401k, just trying to survive until something like this come up,” David said. “We’ve been depending on this [the Keystone Pipeline project] to happen and it just all of a sudden got ripped out from under us and we’re not going to be able to do it now.”

The Dickerson’s are a family of six, and five of them have jobs in the oil and gas industry. Naturally, those in the natural gas and oil industry fear for their careers and feel that their entire sector is being erased.

Kristina [Dickerson] said no one has reached out to her or her husband about alternative jobs in the energy industry. Even if an alternative job is proposed, David [Dickerson] said he would have difficulty transitioning this late in his career. “This is about all I know how to do besides farming,” David said. “I’m fifty three years old, and it’s too late for me to start over again,” he added later. “But it’s way too early for me to retire.”

In response to these concerns, the Biden Administration continues to stress that workers from the natural gas and oil industry can easily transition to the renewable energy sector. John Kerry, Biden’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, went as far as to recommend that oil and gas workers should pivot to manufacturing solar panels if their jobs are eliminated as a consequence of the Biden administration’s environmental policies. 

Obviously, that job requires a dramatically different skill set, work experience, and educational background. Clearly, and unfortunately, the Biden Administration seems more committed to executing its energy agenda at any cost than it is to the thousands of Americans whose livelihoods were erased.