It was said, more out of hope than reality back during the election, that Joe Biden was a centrist not a radical. Sounded good. But about what? Being a centrist. He would pay less attention to the extreme right wing. And is Biden “one of them?” Did we at last elect a Truman Democrat? And what did the “warmers” really want? After day one we found out. The Keystone. The pipeline that passed just east of Allen and attracted so much attention from the metro press. How? Because a small band of protesters met the pipeline workers at every convenient highway crossing. They chained themselves to bulldozers, ditch digging machines after calling the TV stations. Hmm.

Well now the Keystone is mostly complete. A tiny group up in the Dakotas managed to find a sympathetic judge and shut it down up there. This part of the line would have enabled Canada to ship some of their oil into the USA. Otherwise, the Canadians would have to find another less environmentally friendly way to move product to the international market. A pipeline to the Pacific is almost unthinkable. It is both dangerous and expensive. But I think Canada will have to try it now.

Down the road from Allen, on the highway to Coalgate, is an almost complete, expensive new pump station. This $38 million economy booster also boosts the capacity of this pipeline from Cushing down to Houston. I read that about 50 good jobs will vanish. President Biden removed any doubts about the strength of these “fringe greenies.” He did as he was instructed by greenies. Economists are still trying to estimate the economic losses to America and more importantly to me, Oklahoma. Jerking this much money out of the State’s budget will hurt our highways, schools and programs to help the helpless.

The greenies have plans that will remove the US from using any measurable amount of petroleum by 2050. Not that far away. One way (they hope) to nudge Americans in that direction is to make oil products more expensive. “After all they say, isn’t that the way America works?” They think if gasoline at the pump goes up sharply it will make people want to switch to electric, sooner than later. And will these painfully high prices work? Or will the voters just swell up and get mad guaranteeing another change-over of power in 2 years—and yes, 4 years.

Backing up brings again this question. Is the earth really heating up? Yes. But our fate? Very much an argument. And this: these are the same lame brain vegetarian liberals that held that electromagnetic emissions damages cows. They are the same ones that do not want us to eat cows.

And this. Can we really replace the energy from petroleum with wind powered windmills? And will we be allowed to keep our giant hydroelectric dynamos—churning out so many megawatts. Thank goodness for them. No. They want to drain these lakes and return them to nature. Really! Do not think they cannot do it. They point to Lake Powell and Mead as worse case lakes that diminish mankind and nature. Sadly, no one has ever taken these people seriously.

But their main plan is to destroy the oil industry by forcing up prices of oil. But unanswered is this: Will $12.00/gallon price at the pump be high enough? Will that drive us into buying an electric? Who knows? Wind energy is expensive. What about our electric bills? How high will they become? No natural gas? Subsidized utilities too? And where does all this money come from? Someone or somebody needs to step up and sort this out.

As a concerned and conservative Democrat, I can only hope and pray that Joe Biden will realize he cannot travel this road. It’s a battle to win public opinion. Biden needs to tell the greenies to go back to Berkley or thereabouts. Otherwise, Schumer can kiss his newly won seat commanding the US Senate goodbye in 2022. And in 2024? Another big upheaval? Oh me!

Well, one thing Biden did right—he went to Church last Sunday. Let us follow that example.

Wayne Bullard, DPh

cwaynebullard@gmail.com