Granholm to Oil Execs: Biden Administration Not A “Boogeyman”

I’ve been in and around the oil and gas business for 45 years now, since the summer of 1976 when I worked as a welder’s helper on a pipeline crew as a summer job between college semesters. Throughout that time, I’ve watched as politicians of both parties - some Republicans, but mainly Democrats - have done their best to use oil companies as a convenient boogeyman for political purposes.

From Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama to Joe Biden on his very first day in office, demonizing “Big Oil” has served as a tried and true political tactic down through the decades. Thus, it was with some healthy amusement that I read Tuesday’s remarks by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm before the National Petroleum Council, a federal advisory committee made up mainly of representatives from the industry, along with other key stakeholders.

Seeking I suppose to convey some reassurance to those present that the Biden Administration, despite its focused assault on the domestic industry since its first hours in office, is not the enemy, Granholm probably took things a bridge too far when she accused industry representatives of treating the administration as - guess what? - a “boogeyman.”

As quoted by Yahoo News, Granholm first said "I do not want to fight with any of you.”

But that was all the contrition she was willing to convey before moving right back into her standard passive-aggressive posture towards the industry. "We do see, though, some of the things that some of you are saying out there, or some of the organizations that are funded by some of you," she said, referring to criticism she and the administration have received. "I do think it's much more productive to work together on future-facing solutions ... rather than making this administration a boogeyman."

That is a bold narrative right there.

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