According to Wikipedia, "Bowman briefly attended Potomac State Junior College before earning a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Management from the University of New Haven in 1999. He played college football for the New Haven Chargers. Bowman later earned a Master of Arts in Counseling from Mercy College and a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from Manhattanville College.
He is a member of the Lower Hudson Valley chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Bowman was inspired to run by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez."
While that should tell you everything that you need to know about this guy, his stance on oil and gas, the whole idea that "We must stop drilling for oil 'completely' shows how utterly stupid he is when it comes to the role of oil and gas in our society.
The New York Democrat Congressman Jamaal Bowman said the United States must "stop drilling for fossil fuels completely" or Americans will continue to suffer from "severe weather events."
"Number one, we need to stop drilling for fossil fuels completely," Bowman said. "But number two, we need an expedited way to get us to clean, renewable energy, or we will continue to have these severe weather events that we have been having for quite some time because of the warming of the planet."
Bowman's call to end oil and gas drilling in the United States comes as Americans recover from sky-high gas prices under Biden. The national average price for a gallon of gas last summer exceeded $5 for the first time ever. Here in California, we were paying more than $6 a gallon in some places. Some places were more than that. And now, forecasters are saying the average could again go to those same levels this summer.
Biden has also targeted the oil and gas industry through heavy-handed regulations. Earlier this month, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled new standards that force coal and gas power plants to slash their carbon emissions a whopping 90 percent between 2035 and 2040. The rule is expected to force many of those plants to shut down rather than spend millions of dollars to comply.
Wind and solar alternatives come with a lot of negative issues, including reliability, storage, maintenance, and project size and scope. Wind and solar are unreliable, can't be stored, the cost to maintain is astronomical, and the size and scope of what is needed to merely contribute to our needs is bigger than anyone expects. Of course, there is also the problem of mining for the minerals to create the batteries and the problem with the inability to recycle the waste used in both the wind and solar industries.
Just as important as our fuel needs, are our manufacturing needs - Over 6,000 products we use on a daily basis are manufactured from oil. Of every barrel of oil produced, 51% of a barrel of oil goes to something other than fuels. Out of one 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The rest, over half, is used to make things like:
Friends, the list above is only about 150 of the approximately 6000 items made from oil that we use every day. The list above is only a partial list of products made from petroleum. As we can see, it's not only about gasoline and cars.
And ask yourself this, if 49% of all the oil we use is for fuel and the other 51% is for manufacturing products - how much oil would we still need if somehow every Democrat in America could wave their magic wand and eliminate the need for oil for our energy needs?
Currently, the United States consumes 19.6 million barrels per day. So even if every truck, car, big rig, train, jet plane, power plant, and home had an alternative fuel source to go to - we would still need at least 50% (or half) of the amount of the oil we are using today for our manufacturing needs.
Even if we never needed oil as an energy fuel source again, we would still consume over 10 million barrels a day just for our manufacturing processes. That means, oil as a base product is almost indispensable for us or others. If we want to continue making the products that we use on a daily basis, then we need to recognize the importance, the absolute need, of oil.
When Biden and Congressional Democrats talk about not drilling for oil because they want us to use other "energy" sources, they completely ignore the manufacturing aspects of oil. And really, just how many manufacturing jobs are Democrats talking about putting at stake by not drilling right now?
Wind turbine blades have to be replaced over time. Did you know that they’re not recyclable? Off to the landfill, they go! Keep in mind their size. Also, wind turbines kill over 300,000 birds each year.
Solar panels crack and break and when they do, it’s too difficult and too expensive to recycle the materials found in the panels. So, like the blades, they are thrown into landfills. Solar panel fields have to be cleared, destroying large acreages of the environment. Solar panels must be cleaned in order for them to effectively collect sunlight. This means millions of gallons of water must be used.
Wind turbines and solar panels aren’t made from flowers. No, they are made from materials that must be mined, even from petroleum products. The mining process for rare earth materials is incredibly destructive to the environment in which they are collected. And because much of the materials are found in 3rd World Countries, the mining is not done in a safe manner for the land or the people.
Is it logical to think we can power our country’s industry, transportation, and homes with such inefficient energy sources? Is the fossil fuel industry perfect? No, but it has made remarkable strides and is the most efficient use. Let’s continue to strive to make cleaner and more efficient sources of energy -- but in good time without causing great disruption and even destruction of our economy and our lives. As there can be and should be a marrying of the two thoughts."