Big Green's big mistake

 Fox News:

Environmentalists seeking to halt U.S. oil and gas production in the name of combating climate change are undermining their own agenda and risking greater damage to the planet, according to a new report.

The Institute for Energy Research (IER) released a paper showing that the U.S. is the most environmentally friendly major energy producer and arguing that, like it or not, because petroleum products are here to stay, limiting U.S. production would have a devastating effect on the environment.

The report comes as Alaska Republicans and Native leaders are urging the Biden administration, which has committed to a complete transition away from fossil fuels, not to kill a major oil project in the state.

A major hurdle for the administration, according to IER, is that global efforts to curb oil and gas production haven't lessened the world's reliance on fossil fuels for energy — petroleum products are entrenched in modern society to such a degree that fossil fuels and modernity have become all but inseparable.

"Nearly every facet of modern developed economies requires petroleum products and natural gas to function and provide the comfortable lifestyles that citizens of developed countries have come to expect," the report states. "These resources are necessary for agriculture, heavy industry, transportation by all modes — road, rail, air, or ship — and a great number of the products that we take for granted. They're ingrained in almost everything."

As a result, the report continues, efforts to reduce or eliminate oil and gas production in developed countries will simply shift production to other countries in order to meet global demand that's not going away.
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It is also a fact that critics of oil and gas use have been serially wrong for decades.  The poles are still not ice-free as predicted and coastal cities are still not underwater.  It is also a fact that green energy is a very limited replacement for fossil fuels.