Month: January 2021

President Joe Biden will announce a ban on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters on Wednesday, according to several reports.

Biden’s decision bars any new fracking on federal lands despite his campaign promise not to ban the practice.

“I am not banning fracking. Let me say that again: I am not banning fracking,” Biden said in August 2020 during the presidential campaign. “No matter how many times Donald Trump lies about me.”

Despite multiple promises to end fracking and fossil fuels during the Democrat primary or end “new fracking,” Biden clarified while campaigning in Pennsylvania ahead of the presidential election that he would only ban new fracking on federal lands.

“No, I would not shut down this industry. I know our Republican friends are trying to say I said that,” Biden said about fracking in an interview with Pittsburg’s KDKA News.

“I said I would not do any new leases on federal lands,” Biden continued. “Ninety percent of the leases are not on federal land, to begin with. I would make sure … the water is not being contaminated. But I would not shut it down, no.”

The issue of a fracking ban was prominently featured in the final presidential debate when Biden falsely stated that he never said he would ban fracking.

From the transcript:

Welker: All right. Let me allow Vice President Biden to respond–

 Biden: I have never said I oppose fracking.

Trump: You said it on tape.

Biden: I did? Show the tape. Put it on your website.

Trump: I’ll put it on.

Biden: Put it on the website. The fact of the matter is he’s flat lying.

Welker: Would you rule out banning fracking?

Biden: I do rule out banning fracking because the answer we need– We need other industries to transition to get to, ultimately,  a complete zero emissions by 2025. What I will do with fracking over time is make sure that we can capture the emissions from the fracking. Capture the emissions from gas. We can do that and we can do that by investing money into– It’s a transition to that.

Welker: I have one more question–

Trump: Excuse me. He was against fracking. He said it.  I will show that to you tomorrow. ‘I am against fracking’, until he got the nomination, went to Pennsylvania then he said– You know what, Pennsylvania? He’ll be against it very soon because his party is totally against it.

Biden: Fracking on federal land, I said. No fracking or oil on federal land.

President Trump followed through on his promise, publishing a campaign video highlighting Biden’s discussion of eliminating fracking and fossil fuels.

He played the highlight video at several of his rallies in Pennsylvania.

C-SPAN

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced late Monday that the Sunshine State will have offered vaccines to every long term care facility resident and staff member by February 1.

“I’m pleased to announce that by February 1, the COVID-19 vaccine will have been offered to every resident and staff member of Florida’s nearly 700 nursing homes and over 3,000 ALFs,” DeSantis announced Monday.

“This was an important mission,” DeSantis said during an earlier Monday stop at the River Garden Hebrew House for the Aged in Jacksonville, Florida, explaining that the age and underlying health status of those in long term care facilities make residents more vulnerable to severe outcomes from the virus.

The announcement comes as DeSantis continues to prioritize vaccinating seniors — a move which drew ire from outlets such as CNN as the vaccine rollout began:

In an announcement last week, the Republican governor explained that Florida is putting seniors first, leading the nation in vaccinating those 65 and older. Nearly 70 percent of the state’s total vaccinations are going toward senior citizens, as DeSantis noted in a January 22 update. To date, Florida has vaccinated over one million seniors, DeSantis noted in a tweet Tuesday.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) January 25 data, Florida has distributed 2,908,275 vaccinations and has administered 1,544,794 doses.

DeSantis released a sharp statement on Tuesday following remarks from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who seemed to suggest that Florida was greatly underutilizing the vaccines it has received as the overall rollout continues.

“I will note – cause we’re data first, facts first here – that they’ve only distributed about 50 percent of the vaccines that they have been given in Florida,” the maskless press secretary stated.

“So, clearly, they have a good deal of the vaccine, that supply will need to continue to increase as they are able to effectively reach people across the state,” she added.

DeSantis explained that the state is “among the top ten most populous states for vaccine doses per capita,” administering 300,000 first doses per week.

“But we are not going to divert second doses away from our seniors. If the implication is that we should be giving those second doses away to other people, that is not the way the FDA has prescribed the series,” DeSantis added.

“If we are given additional first does, we are ready to double our output. The possibilities are endless here in Florida, but it is contingent on us getting additional supply from the federal government,” he continued.

“We are committed to ensuring our seniors are the priority and get their second dose, and if the White House is suggesting that we shouldn’t be doing that, I don’t think that’s a good suggestion,” he added.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) released a pointed statement Tuesday after White House press secretary Jen Psaki appeared to suggest Florida is underutilizing the vaccines it has received, describing the insinuation as “totally disingenuous.”

“I will note — cause we’re data first, facts first here — that they’ve only distributed about 50 percent of the vaccines that they have been given in Florida,” a maskless Psaki stated during Monday’s press briefing.

“So, clearly, they have a good deal of the vaccine, that supply will need to continue to increase as they are able to effectively reach people across the state,” she continued.

DeSantis took issue with the Psaki’s insinuation that Florida is simply sitting on viable vaccines, noting that many of the vaccines are second doses for seniors, whom DeSantis has continued to prioritize in the state’s rollout.  Florida has already vaccinated over one million seniors alone.

“The insinuation that Florida is underutilizing vaccines is totally disingenuous. Florida is number one in the country among the top ten most populous states for vaccine doses per capita,” the Republican governor said in a statement, noting the Sunshine State is averaging over 300,000 first doses per week.

“But we are not going to divert second doses away from our seniors. If the implication is that we should be giving those second doses away to other people, that is not the way the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] has prescribed the series,” DeSantis continued:

We are also number one in the nation by far for vaccinations of seniors, as Florida has vaccinated more than 1 million seniors 65 and older to date. If we are given additional first does, we are ready to double our output. The possibilities are endless here in Florida, but it is contingent on us getting additional supply from the federal government.

DeSantis reemphasized that Florida is committed to prioritizing seniors, ensuring that they receive both the first and second dose of the vaccine.

“If the White House is suggesting that we shouldn’t be doing that, I don’t think that’s a good suggestion,” he added:

Florida has distributed 2,908,275 vaccinations and has administered 1,544,794 doses, or 7,193 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) January 25 data. Of those, 156,298 have received two or more doses of the vaccine.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order Monday to phase out the federal government’s use of vehicles that run on gas and replace them with ones that run on electricity.

The process is part of Biden’s “Made in America” executive order, which the president claims will create one million additional jobs in the auto industry in America.

“The federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we’re going to replace with clean electric vehicles made right here in America, by American workers,” Biden told reporters during a briefing Monday announcing his “Buy American” executive order.

But replacing an entire federal fleet of hundreds of thousands of vehicles could be a massive undertaking. TechCrunch reported that, in 2019, the federal fleet comprised of more than 645,000 vehicles, including more than 412,000 trucks and 224,000 passenger cars.

That does not even begin to include the hundreds of thousands of U.S. Post Office vehicles powered by gas, the Verge reported.

Many existing federal vehicles on the road are tied to leases, which could halt the process of transferring them to electric.

There is also the issue of making sure electric vehicles have enough charging stations to provide them with enough power to function.

Automakers likely to supply the country with these electric vehicles include Ford and General Motors, companies that have both said they would commit to spending billions on electric vehicles.