Some basic facts on oil & gas right now:
- no US oil company can make money at below $50/barrel
- Russia and Saudi Arabia can hang with these prices for a WHILE
- shale has never made financial sense and even less so now that all the “good” assets are drilled out

This is an industry that won’t survive the oil price war without a bailout. Miss me with your “economic” argument that leaves that out. If energy transition isn’t a requirement of that bailout? That’s fucking stupid. And proof that it’s about power and cronyism, nothing more.

But what about the jobs, you say? Fossil fuel industry has been over reporting jobs numbers for YEARS (that story coming soon @WeAreDrilled). And it’s totally feasible to transition those workers.

Also who the fuck are we kidding, subsidizing the fossil fuel industry has never been about protecting workers so much as executives and shareholder profits. And hey, they’re doing what the system enables and rewards (a system they helped shape, mind you). But enough already

ALSO let’s talk about the geopolitical implications here. A few ways this could go:
Scenario #1 Russia and Saudi could cave and reduce production—can’t imagine it being anywhere near the fantasy Trump has promised, though, or that it’ll get prices up above $50 so...not a big fix

Scenario #2 US gov orders production cuts to stabilize pricing. Unlikely because a)Exxon, Chevron and API don’t want that and b) that cedes ground to Russia and Saudi in The Who-gets-to-burn-the-most-oil battle.

Scenario #3 US gov just throws massive subsidies at the problem — actually the most likely, yet utterly ridiculous, scenario! The fossil fuel industry industry is already HEAVILY subsidized so it’s not like this would be new. But it would be financially foolish.

If we actually wanted to rah rah America this shit and “beat” Russia and Saudi we’d leave them to the race to the bottom in oil and go hard at energy transition, which provides a sustainable long term shot at energy independence too.

Of course truly solving for climate requires a LOT more than just replacing a dirty energy source. But even in the context of hardcore capitalism the options currently being considered for addressing the oil and gas situation don’t make sense