President Donald Trump’s landslide victory on Election Day is another sign that the American people want to embrace affordable American energy and reject the incessant narrative of “pessimism” touted by the United States. environmental extremists.

For decades, radical environmental groups like Greenpeace have used apocalyptic rhetoric while proposing so-called solutions that would make energy more expensive and make life worse for people. Working class Americans. This election was a rejection of that rhetoric and an embrace of common sense.

These environmental extremists tell us that Americans reject fossil fuels. But the month before the elections, survey found that 4 in 5 swing state voters thought domestic oil and gas production could help lower energy costs for American consumers. Rising costs were a big concern for voters, and the cost of energy impacts everything from grocery bills to transportation.

Voters faced a clear choice between Trump, who enthusiastically embraced the mantra “Drill, baby, drill,” and Vice President Kamala Harris, who spent the final months of the campaign walking back her previous support for banning hydraulic fracturing.

If Democrats learn anything from their election defeat, it would be that activist groups like Greenpeace actually speak on behalf of a small group of elites, not on behalf of the American people.

Unfortunately, Democrats have spent years beholden to extremist environmentalists who are more effective at generating media coverage than effective policies. Groups like Greenpeace continually attempt to kill America’s pipeline projects, raise money for their cause, and then ignore the real impacts of their actions.

These environmental activists claim to speak for the world, while ignoring the global impacts of their actions. If they paid attention, they would recognize that killing fossil fuel projects like refineries and pipelines in the United States does not prevent them from being built. This simply guarantees that they will be built in other countries with significantly weaker environmental policies than the United States.

An entity that understands this dynamic it’s Chinawhich has benefited greatly from the resistance efforts of Greenpeace and others. Due to a lack of sufficient pipeline capacity in North America, Canadian oil that should be refined in the United States is often shipped to China. Crude oil processing reached record levels in China in 2023, and the country is expected to continue developing its refining capacity.

This Chinese refinery boom has led China to become a net exporter of diesel, jet fuel and heating oil for the first time in the country’s history. Because China lacks effective pollution control, this increase is dangerous for the global environment. It is also dangerous for American economybecause this economic activity benefits the Chinese government rather than American businesses and workers.

Meanwhile, the United States has become a world leader in environmental management. Over the past five decades, we have reduced pollution by almost 80%, achieving safe, clean air that is only imaginable elsewhere in the world, while also being number 1 in access to clean and safe drinking water. And we’ve done it while increasing our energy production and population, proving that we can have responsible energy production that does not compromise environmental quality.

America is the most responsible energy producer on the planet, and the world needs more energy to end poverty, not less. Access to affordable American energy could serve those who need it far better than any other alternative.

Despite this, Greenpeace is doubling down on its own failures. After the election, the group released a statement calling on its activists to “resist and persist» in their fight against fossil fuels. Executive Director of Greenpeace USA also added this resistance to Trump’s agenda is the key to “the relevance and survival of our organization”. It should be noted that their concerns are with their own organization and not with the American people.

As debates over energy continue to rage in the years to come, it is worth remembering that the American people clearly favor solutions that include fossil fuels and keep energy prices low. That’s something Democratic policymakers should keep in mind the next time Greenpeace protesters camp out at a pipeline site or on a college campus.

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