Want to pay more for energy? If so, President Joe Biden's new drilling prohibition in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is good news for you.
The rest of us, though, are less than thrilled with his efforts to throttle the energy sector. They're needlessly costing American families an extra $2,400 on their annual energy bills.
Since Biden took office, every energy source has seen a dramatic increase in price: gasoline 60 percent, diesel 47 percent, natural gas 25 percent and propane 23 percent. These increases, combined with a 70 percent increase in the price of coal, have also driven electricity prices up 24 percent.
Those higher electricity prices are also the result of Biden administration mandates that force unreliable energy sources into the nation's electricity grid. That's another cost that ultimately gets passed to consumers.
And these costs are certainly adding up during Biden's tenure. The average American family is spending about $2,400 more on energy today than when he took office.
This is the consequence of Biden's war on reliable American energy, which he repeatedly promised as a presidential candidate that he would wage if elected. He has followed through on that pledge, hitting domestic energy producers with higher taxes, more onerous regulations and possibly the most hostile business environment in their industry's history.
It's no surprise that energy production remains artificially depressed under the withering attacks of the Biden administration.
Thanks to Biden, the government's oil stock in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is also way down, almost 290 million barrels or 45 percent, since he took office. Reduced production and reserves jeopardize America's ability to adequately meet a crisis. Should one arise, prices would soar even higher than their current elevated levels.
But that's the goal of Biden's "green" agenda. Higher prices are a success in his eyes, not a failure, because they force families to use less. High energy prices are a feature, not a bug. Your economic pain in the meantime? Tough. It's just something you must endure.
While the oil cartel OPEC+ cuts its production, we should be increasing our own, powering both the American and the global economy. Instead, we are willing captives to our enemies, costing American families thousands of dollars and costing us our prestige as a nation.
E.J. Antoni is a public finance economist at The Heritage Foundation.