Biden approves largest oil export terminal in US after promising to ‘seize’ a green energy economy

According to the Texas Tribune, James Coleman, a lawyer who specialized in energy at the Southern Methodist University said of the Biden administration, "They keep asking the oil industry to expand its production and build more refineries. And yet they are saying we need to phase out fossil fuels. What they've said seems contradictory."

Since Biden took office he has canceled oil pipelines in the US, which would allow energy to be produced, processed, and distributed with greater ease both for American consumers and for trading partners globally.

The Biden administration filed the terminal's approval without a public announcement and the port is expected to create 233 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, equal to roughly 4 percent of the US's total 2020 greenhouse gas emissions.

The filing came one day after the end of COP27, or the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt.

At COP27, Biden said, "We see our mission to avert climate catastrophe and seize a new clean energy economy not only as an imperative for our present and future, but through the eyes of history."

Climate activists said they were "extremely disappointed" and that the port does not advance "environmental justice."

Melanie Oldham from Citizens for Clean Air and Clean Water said, "I'm extremely disappointed. Secretary Pete Buttigieg and President Biden have chosen not to be climate change leaders."

Kelsey Crane from Earthworks said, "President Biden cannot lead on combating climate change, protecting public health or advocating for environmental justice while simultaneously allowing fossil fuel companies to lock-in decades of fossil fuel extraction."