Louisiana Republican Rep. Clay Higgins floated an environmental challenge to President Biden Tuesday – introducing a House resolution calling on the commander-in-chief to live without any petroleum products.
“American innovation, not job-killing government mandates, is driving emissions reductions,” Higgins said in a statement. “However, if President Biden truly believes in his radical climate agenda, then he should lead by example starting at the White House.”
H. Res. 149 begins by “calling on President Biden to immediately implement his radical climate agenda at the White House by prohibiting use of petroleum-based products and energy sources.”
Such items include smartphones, cameras, computers, coffee makers and surgical masks, among other common objects – as well as oil and gas energy.
To accomplish the latter, Higgins suggested “immediately detaching the White House from the electric grid” and installing wind mills and solar panels on the presidential lawn. The resolution also calls on Biden to replace Air Force One and Marine One with electric-powered aircraft and the presidential limousine with an electric car.
“Modern life is not possible without the oil and gas industry,” Higgins said. “These energy sources fuel the world, and petroleum-based products are found in virtually everything everywhere.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Higgins, an Army veteran and former SWAT operator, earlier this month lambasted Biden’s climate policies in an op-ed published in the Lafayette-based Daily Advertiser.
“In the first two weeks, we’ve seen the administration revoke permits for the Keystone XL pipeline, enact a drilling moratorium for federal lands and waters, rejoin the misguided Paris Agreement, and begin implementing Green New Deal standards,” he wrote. “The resurgence of these Obama-era policies will have the same outcome now as they did then, the destruction of American jobs, higher energy costs, and undermining global security interests. Those who will benefit the most include China and Russia.”
