Biden Climate Chief Podesta Touts Oil Boom as Economic Victory

(Bloomberg) -- America’s oil and gas boom got a surprising endorsement Thursday from the president’s top climate adviser, as John Podesta hailed surging domestic output as an economic win for the country. 

The growth has made the US the world’s largest oil producer — pumping almost 50% more crude each day than Saudi Arabia. It’s “been good for the American consumer and good for national security,” said Podesta, the senior adviser to the president for international climate policy. 

US gas production helped the country backfill Russian supplies in Europe after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Podesta said, adding that domestic crude output has helped pare inflation, “with gas prices 20% lower than they were a year ago.” 

Podesta’s comments, delivered in a panel discussion hosted by the Covering Climate Now journalism group, dovetail with President Joe Biden’s move Thursday to highlight US economic milestones, including cooling inflation and the Federal Reserve’s decision to slash interest rates. Gas prices are lower than before Russia’s invasion and “below $3 a gallon in 14 states,” Biden said to applause at the Economic Club of Washington. 

The comments come as Vice President Kamala Harris on the campaign trail increasingly emphasizes oil production and clean energy jobs — part of a bid to find a balance on the issues as she woos gas-rich Pennsylvania. 

Podesta, the chief US representative in global climate negotiations, said more needs to be done to cut planet-warming emissions, even in a world that relies on fossil fuels. 

“The transition needs to happen. The crisis is real. The pace and scale need to increase,” he said. The US needs to move in the “direction of net zero and try to create a power system that is 100% clean by the middle of the next decade.”

The US has “made a tremendous transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean,” with 96% of announced new power capacity this year coming from emission-free sources, Podesta said. And US regulations — including Biden administration rules throttling greenhouse gas emissions from cars and power plants — also “help push us down that track, but in the short term, we’re going to still need to rely on the fossil fuels in the near term, particularly in the transportation sector.”

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