Responsibility for the Cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline Lies at the Feet of the Biden Administration

May 11, 2021

Our economy is fueled by petrochemicals.  Oil, gas, and coal power our electric grid, our factories, office buildings, homes, and hospitals. They enable us to commute and transports goods nationwide with speed and efficiency making them affordable for the vast majority of people. 

It’s the job of the President to protect this structure. Wishing it were different is not policy. When Joe Biden says he wants to “build back better” he really means, when it comes to energy, wishing it were different.  Aspirations are not policy any more than alliteration is. 

The cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline lays at the feet of this administration because they have created the climate in which it happened. Joe Biden sends signals, and the world responds.  He signaled he was not going to enforce our border.  The result is record numbers of illegal immigration four and five times the previous numbers. Joe Biden signaled he was no friend of Israel. The result is escalating tensions with rockets launched at civilian Israel targets. Joe Biden signaled disdain for the energy industry. The result is a climate where attacks are allowed. 

On his first day in office, Joe Biden launched the inaugural attack on the industry. The result was 11,000 workers laid off during the economic depression resulting from COVID. This attack also signaled energy dominance was not a priority. Inexpensive, abundant, reliable energy to power our nation was no longer a priority. 

Cyber attackers took heed. 

Maybe this will be a wake-up call in the Biden Administration that energy is, really, the lifeblood of our economy, and that tinkering with it for political purposes has serious, costly, and even deadly implications. Maybe this crisis will be a reminder to the American people how serious the role of government is in protecting our nation from enemies foreign and domestic.  Maybe this crisis will imbue in the President and his team that wishing for an alternate energy reality is not governing. 

America is a complex and at times delicate balance of powers, institutions, and markets, and it needs a manager in the line of Jack Welch. Instead, we seem to have Don Quixote. Energy is not always a fun, sexy topic, but it is the power that keeps America running. If only the man in charge understood how much is actually at stake before he pushes for another green fantasy. 

Let us hope Colonial Pipeline comes back into operation before any permanent loss of life or property, and let us hope America builds an energy infrastructure that brings abundant and affordable energy to every one of its citizens.