The Government Has Been Dragging Its Feet on Drilling for Oil in Alaska – with Todd Tiahrt:

We start the program with a black history segment on George Washington Carver. Our topic for the day is a petroleum reserve in Alaska. The drilling company has been waiting 20 years to get a permit to drill, but the government has been dragging its feet. Tapping into this reserve would bring gas prices down drastically. Will this be able to go through with the Biden administration? Congressman Todd Tiahrt is on today to tell us about it.

Air Date: 2/7/2023

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Tim Barton and Rick Green

Guest: Congressman Todd Tiahrt

Article: Willow project must survive: Biden needs to approve Alaskan petroleum reserve

Listen:

Download: Click Here

Listen:

Download: Click Here

Transcription:

Rick Green
Welcome to the WallBuilders show we’re taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical and constitutional perspective. Rick Green, David Barton, Tim Barton all here together. And it’s February guys, we’ve got a really special thing happening everyday in February is we bring some great heroes of history to life for folks. I think this is what our fifth one? What’s our story today, guys?

Tim Barton
This is a fifth one. And the story today is we can say this basically every single day this guy is, you know, one of the true heroes in American history. But I don’t think you can argue he wasn’t. This is George Washington Carver. And as we mentioned yesterday with Phyllis Wheatley, there are some names that people might recognize they might have heard of. I think there’s definitely gonna be some names as we go through this list and people have never heard of, and we only chose 20 Of the hundreds of heroes we could talk about, but George Washington Carver certainly as a famous scientist and inventor, a lot of people recognize him, even from some of the work he did with the Tuskegee Institute, Booker T Washington, but his background is super interesting. He was born into slavery in the South and this was a kind of right around the Civil War era. So the end of the Civil War he finds his freedom because the 13th amendment but he’s living with the carver family, and his mother, George Washington Carver’s mother was also a slave. Well, the Carver family decides to keep them on. One night, there’s a group of riders that come through and they kidnapped George and his mother. And the Carver family is so distressed that Mr. Carver, Miss Carver, they, they want to rescue them, but they don’t really have any money until they offer someone, some some acres and an animal like you can have the horse if you can just go find them. And so as the story unfolds there that the guy they hire is able to find George, not able to bring the mother back. And George, his health was really broken. He was really sick. But he lives with a family. He’s raised by the family falls in love kind of with botany with gardening with plants, and gets an education. And we’re going very quickly through this because he dealt with some racism and education. He wanted to go to a school and he had to write an essay to get in and they read the essay and said, Man, this is incredible. Come on, he shows up and they realize, wait a second, you’re not white. And so he wasn’t allowed to go to the school because he wasn’t white. And he has to find somewhere else. In the course of his life ends up that he does find success, he becomes a very well renowned scientist. And this is also the era of time when in the southern area on these plantations. They’ve been growing crop for so long every single year, that it’s depleted the soil for minerals. And then also there were boll weevil that came through that were eating up some of the cotton and so there’s just all kinds of issues with farmers and planning in the south. And because of all of these issues, they were looking for other options. And this is when George Washington Carver brilliantly comes up with the idea of let’s let’s try the peanut. Let’s grow the peanut and and well, if you’re going to grow the peanut, right, what are you going to do the peanut? Eat the peanut? Okay, great. Well, he goes through and explains how over the course of a conversation he had with God, where he tells God, I won’t understand the mysteries of the universe. And God says you’re not really smart enough for understanding the universe. And he says, Okay, well then, you know, explain, explain humanity to me, and God says, you’re not smart enough for humanity. And so George finally says, okay, you know, like, God, what am I smart enough for? And God says, we’ll choose something a little smaller. And so George Washington says, He said, I asked God to explain the peanut to me. And God said, Well, you’re not, you’re not smart enough for all the peanut, but I’ll give you some of the uses of the peanut. And of course, George Washington Carver is the guy that discovered over 300 uses for the peanut, and wasn’t just a peanut, because they’re sweet potatoes with a lot of things he did amazing technological breakthroughs. And literally hundreds of millions of people around the world have benefited from things that he discovered with the peanut. And what’s so great, too is he was always outspoken about his Christian faith. And you know, even as I just alluded to the conversation he had with God, where God was kind of challenging him to go to the peanut and study that peanut. Well, even an indication of his faith is if you ever want to go see some of the history of George Washington Carver… Dad, where’s the Carver museum? I know, we’ve been when I was a kid.

David Barton
Yeah, it’s around Joplin, Missouri. It’s over in Southeastern Missouri. And it really is considered one of the better museums in the United States. And strangely enough, being a federal project. They don’t dodge his faith at all. And when you go to that museum, it is kind of like going through a church Museum in some ways, but that’s who he was.

Tim Barton
Well, and his workshop was or his place where he did his inventions, his laboratory was called God’s little workshop. And there’s what he really believed that God was the one revealing it to him and we actually heard from one of the tour guides at that facility and they said, Look, you know, that we couldn’t get away from God if we wanted to, because everything this guy ever did was God connected God related. And so he truly is one of these incredible heroes of American history that unfortunately does not get the attention and coverage he deserves. As mentioned that many people you might already know some of his story, there is so much depth to the story. If you wanna know more, you definitely can go to the WallBuilders website. And you can download this American hero biography series, this fifth one being George Washington Carver. And there’s a lot of links and resources to additional biographies to deeper dives you can do on people like George Washington Carver. So on the WallBuilders website, a lot more information, but these are definitely people that should be remembered and celebrated for their contributions to America.

Rick Green
Check it out a WallBuilders.com today, guys, we’re gonna take a quick break here in a second. When we come back from the break. Former Congressman Todd Tiahrt will be with us. We’re gonna be talking about this massive, massive petroleum… I don’t know what do you call it? A basin? But it’s it’s huge, like 600 million barrels or something. And for 20 years, we’ve been waiting, the company that has been trying to drill there has been waiting for their permit. This could really help. You know, we should drill everywhere we can.

David Barton
Yeah, this a field that was discovered in 1999. And Alaska. It has 600 million barrels, its called the willow project. And everybody in Alaska is for it. This includes the Native American tribes includes Democrats and Republicans includes everybody affected by it. And they’ve been waiting for a permit since 1999, 24 years! They’ve been waiting for a permit. And so they’re trying to kind of increase the pressure but 600 million barrels of oil, oh my goodness, what that would do to gas prices refill in the strategic preserve and others and Todd Tiahrt was in Congress for 16 years, great guy. He came in with the way with Gingrich and 94. He is now an energy expert. And there’s so many good things he did while he was there. He was one of the best offenders a second amendment etc. but Todd Tiahrt from Kansas.

Rick Green
Alright folks stay with us. We’ll be right back. You’re listening to the WallBuilders show.

Tim Barton
This is Tim Barton from WallBuilders with another moment from American history. Many today wrongly claimed our founding fathers were largely atheists, agnostics and deist. Certainly some founders were less religious than others. But even they were not irreligious. Consider Benjamin Franklin, definitely one of the least religious among them. Yet, when the delegates at the Constitutional Convention hit an impasse in their deliberations. It was Franklin who called them to prayer, invoking numerous scriptures to make his point. As he reminded them, God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that the Empire can rise but his aid, we have been assured in the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, but they labor in vain that build it, I firmly believe this. So even the least religious of America’s founders urged public prayer and dependence on God. For more information about the faith and the founding fathers, go to WallBuilders.com.

Hey, this is Tim Barton with WallBuilders. And as you’ve had the opportunity to listen to WallBuilders Live, you’ve probably heard the wealth of information about our nation, about our spiritual heritage, about the religious liberties about all the things that makes America exceptional. And you might be thinking as incredible as this information is, I wish there was a way that I could get one of the WallBuilders guys to come to my area, and share with my group, whether it be a church, whether it be a Christian school, or public school, or some political event or activity. If you’re interested in having a WallBuilders speaker come to your area, you can get on our website at www.WallBuilders.com. And there’s a tab for scheduling. And if you click on that tab, you’ll notice there’s a list of information from speakers bios, to events that are already going on. And there’s a section where you can request an event to bring this information about who we are, where we came from, our religious liberties and freedoms. Go to the wall builders website and bring a speaker to your area.

Rick Green
Thanks for staying with us. Welcome back to the WallBuilders show. Congressman Todd Tiahrt is with us. Congressman, thanks for coming on, sir.

Todd Tiahrt
Great to be with you and your listeners, Rick. Thanks for inviting me.

Rick Green
Hey, I had no idea. It could take 20 years, longer than 20 years to get a permit to access a petroleum reserve. And here we are with prices going through the roof. You think this stuff would you know? Okay, I can understand a couple years. But this is crazy. You got a great article in the Washington Times about this. Why in the world does it take so long? And will the Biden administration finally let this thing go through so we can lower prices?

Todd Tiahrt
Well, gas prices are going up. Make no mistake about it. The reason it took so long is because of the opposition within the bureaucracy to expanding fossil fuel energy production. And this is kind of diametric. to their whole purpose in life, but the federal government in the bureaucracy has a lot of people who identify with the left. And they use their ability to just slow the process down in the case for this willow project, you know, 20 years, can you imagine that 20 years? Do you imagine getting 20 years to get your driver’s license, or to get, you know, get into the hospital for something, I mean, just think how ridiculous that is. So 20 years, and now, it’s got a good possibility, though, there’s a lot of pressure and the pressure is bipartisan, which in Washington DC is supposed to make a difference, it doesn’t make a difference if you worship the church or climate change, then it doesn’t matter, you know, what your affiliation is, you got to be against that and save mother earth. But this is going to, I think, going to go forward, because of the pressure coming from the bipartisan Alaska delegation, and the native tribes to the North Slope of Alaska, as well as the unions, and maybe the unions are the straw that’s gonna break the camel’s proverbial back. You know, this is a big deal. This is a lot of production, this is probably going to be just in as I said, in my article, there’s going to be, like $8 billion in revenue coming from this in taxes and royalty. And the royalty side of it is is handed out by the state of Alaska, according to law, current law, and the local tribes will get about half of that. So they won’t get $4 billion. But they will probably get in the area of a billion dollars to improve their infrastructure. Can you imagine that these are people, some of them who do not even have running water for a toilet, they have to go outside and when you… These people need this up there and America needs the energy, the world needs the energy, but there has been a strong opposition and… But I do think there’s momentum to get it done.

Rick Green
Well, it’s just shocking to me that long. You know, I mean, I don’t see how a business can operate, you know, and plan a, you know, if they’re trying to do something that’s huge. And you’re held up for that long. I just… It boggles the mind. But it’s typical of government intervention in something like this, and the way that holds it up, but it is… If I understood your article, right? So they’ve been going through all these different things with the agencies. And at this point is it almost like it’s sitting on somebody’s desk awaiting approval, like everything’s pretty much done, they just had to finally have the final sign off, but yet, there’s political pressure from the left to try to keep the Biden administration from approving it?

Todd Tiahrt
Well, it’s almost all over, but the shouting, you know, it’s ready to go to the President’s desk is still sitting at the Bureau of Land Management. And they have all been approved it. But you know, as part of the process, they’ve got to courier it over to the White House. It could happen at any time, but it’s still lodged in the Bureau of Land Management, like it’s been for the last years, there was a protest that sort of spurred my article in front of the White House back in January, early January, and they were opposed to this. So I think that the inside, you know, there’s whispers going along the pews inside the church of climate change, and they had this great fear that this is going to be released soon. So they designed this protest. And a lot of different groups were there, the one that got me… the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Club, Defenders of the Wildlife. Things you normally think, but then there was the Alaska Wilderness League that showed up to protest. And I thought, well, that’s interesting. Somebody drove all the way down 4000 miles or flew to protest at the White House about this lease in… They are producing a lot of petroleum there already, you know, we just have a pipeline that was finished in 1979. So it’s been going on for a long time. And, and now they’re protesting, so it must be close. I think that was what triggered me to say, let’s get this done. So it’s getting close, but it’s just bureaucracy is just like molasses in the wintertime.

Rick Green
Yeah, yeah. No kidding. How do… just to put this in perspective, the level of volume we’re talking about here, what what kind of a dent does this make? I mean, a 600 million barrel reserve. And I don’t know how long they’re saying it would take to get it out of the ground or, you know, to actually get it into the into the marketplace. But, I mean, is there any way to put that in perspective, like, what percentage is? Is that bigger than, you know, the Odessa Permian is that, you know, one of the largest I would think in the in the country.

Todd Tiahrt
It’s not larger than the Permian. I think it’s probably on scale of the Bakken range up in North Dakota, Montana, in South Dakota.

Rick Green
Still huge.

Todd Tiahrt
Yeah, it’s huge. It’s huge. In there’s a lot more oil up there, man, you know, this is one thing that I find puzzling. We need the petroleum we need the fossil fuel energy. But mankind did not leave the stone age because we ran out of stone. We didn’t leave the iron age because we ran out of iron. And we won’t leave the… You know, fossil fuel age because we run out of fossil fuel. There’s a lot of fuel up there in the ground. And we just have to get the permit and get it out. And it’s, there’s petroleum up there, this is probably a, this is a big deal. It’s a big deal for local tribes, it’s a big deal for the economy. Every bit helps you in when it comes to production and bringing the price down. But this kind of nonsense, is stopping a lot of production. I mean, we could be today, as we were under President Trump, completely energy independent from the rest of the globe. It is the Biden administration that has made us lean on our enemies for petroleum. He has begged fuel from from the Saudi Arabian princes and kings. King, I should say, he has begged oil from Venezuela, a socialist nightmare, collapsed economy, a friend of China and Russia. And he continues to go to OPEC and ask for more production, when the truth is, we could be energy independent and not beg from anybody. We will be an exporter, we can help Europe now that Russia has messed up this, this whole thing with Ukraine, you know, they really, I think, stepped in the wrong place there. I think it’s gonna be a destructive thing for their country and Ukraine, obviously. But the whole world is gonna, there’s gonna be food shortages because of it. We’re begging Russia for oil, we’re begging Russia for oil, quietly trying to purchase it on the black market. That’s what I’ve been told. So this is nuts. It’s crazy, we should be not only doing this, what’s going on in the North Slope of Alaska, but we should be drilling offshore as well. It’s friendly to the environment, we know how to do it, we know there’s oil out there. And like I said, we’re not gonna leave the fossil fuel age because we’re not a fossil fuels. So let’s go ahead and start producing this to bring down the price of energy. It’s the only way to bring people out of poverty, is to allow them to have the energy they need to develop the technology and the infrastructure in their countries. And we’re selfish for not doing it.

Rick Green
Drill, baby drill, I couldn’t agree more. And I’ve never thought about it the way you describe it. That’s that’s such a good perspective on this, you know, you don’t you don’t get out of an age like this. Just because you run out. It’s because you have some better technology and come up with a better way to do it when they finally do that and actually do it. Not Not, not some fake news marketing of some green energy that actually cost more and is worse for the environment like they typically do. But when they actually do that, then we’ll get off of our dependence on fossil fuels. But right now, they’re there for us to use, they should be used, they can be done in a safe and effective way. I mean, this is… You’re spot on, man. And I appreciate that perspective. I’m going to, I’m going to borrow that from you. And then I’m going to steal it completely and not even give you credit, the more I use it, Congressman.

Todd Tiahrt
One other thing about the people who worship in the church climate change- If they truly believed what they were saying, they would not buy one Chinese product. They wouldn’t fly on a jet airplane. They would be picketing. You know that China. It’s what amazes me they produce twice as much greenhouse gases, twice as much carbon dioxide. But I believe greenhouse gases as well. Since carbon dioxide is mostly what most of the greenhouse gases, they produce 23% of the world’s greenhouse gases. Were half that. We have reduced our CO2 levels to 2005 levels. By 2020, we did that we’re still on that path, we still have the policies in place to reduce our carbon footprint. We’re the only nation in the world that has reduced our carbon footprint. The only. China on the other hand, which is double the greenhouse gases and CO2 that we make, is on track to double that, again, in 20 years, this Paris accord that was so well lauded by all the Greens by Bishop Carey and those others in the church that I’ve been referring to they all of them are just thinking that that well, we’ve got to just focus on Europe and in the United States on this, but the real true violators of the carbon footprint are in China, and that’s where the boycott should be. That’s where we’re all in we should be saying that they should be standing in front instead of the White House. They should be standing in front of the Chinese Embassy protesting this. In many cases. This is interesting this… they build about five coal plants every week. In some cases, they’re tearing one down and then that’s like 100 megawatt and replacing it with 1000 megawatt plant. They have plans to expand their carbon footprint. The Paris Accord I guess what I want to finish my thought about the Paris accord and I’m sorry, got a little distracted there. The Paris Accord is only a promise made by those countries. United States promised to cut their emissions. So did Europe, China has promised to increase their emissions. That was their contribution to the Paris accord. We don’t hear much about that. But, they promised increase… and they’re on track to peak out about 2040. It’s ridiculous. This is lunacy. What we should be doing is producing more oil. And in do… they have common sense regulations. A good example, they say there’s going to be no, we won’t sell any gas burning cars in California by 2035. I think about us and maybe 2030. Either way, if you really wanted to transition the economy, from a petroleum powered vehicle to an electric powered vehicle, you would probably go to a hybrid an interim, you know, like a hybrid vehicle that would make that transition, and then you go to a full electric vehicle sometime in the future. But that’s not what they do. They want to go, you can’t have a gas burning car, you’ve got to have an electric car, you’ve got to have it. Well, the carbon footprint to build an electric car is greater than the carbon foot of building a gas car, and you got to drive it for 100,000 miles before that carbon footprint changes. So in the end of the life of that vehicle, if your battery lasts that long, your carbon footprint is maybe 15 to 20% less than the gas vehicle. It’s just, you know what, they don’t make sense, because it’s not about just the environment to them. It’s their faith is their religion is what they live.

Rick Green
Yeah, just like your point out, it’s it’s illogical because it is it is a almost like a cultish way, you know, thinking where, you know, the real science doesn’t matter logic reason doesn’t matter. It’s what feels good, what’s what’s, you know, what’s going to be, you know, rile people up, and, and part of the reason they don’t go to China and protest, or go to the embassy and protest that, that wouldn’t be that wouldn’t get them on the news, you know, like this, like the things they’re doing now and…

Todd Tiahrt
They think they can, that they’re in control, and that they can, to their knowledge through eating the apple, off the tree of knowledge of climate change, they can save the planet, that’s, that’s their fundamental belief is that they can save the planet. What arrogance? How arrogant Is that when you think about it, well, anyway.

Rick Green
Well, they’re literally, you know, the Romans I thing, they’re worshipping the creation, rather than the Creator. And they and they profess themselves to be wise, they become absolute fools with the, with the lack of logic and science. And let you use the word I mean, it’s common sense. It is what’s not being used here. And unfortunately, you would think the public policy would follow the science and the logic and the and the common sense, but too often, it follows the political, you know, the political winds, but you know, that far better than, than I do with the years in Congress, but, man, really appreciate you coming on and appreciate the article. We’ll do a link to the article today as well. But appreciate your time today, man. Thanks for coming on and joining us.

Todd Tiahrt
Well, thank you, you know, there is hope out there and to the faith in our Lord and Savior. We’re going to come through this okay. And things may seem grim today. But there’s always hope in what we’ve been promised through our Lord and Savior. So, Greetings, to your listeners, thanks for the time, Rick and blessings to you.

Rick Green
So good, so good. That’s former congressman Todd Tiahrt. Stay with us, folks. We’ll be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Have you noticed the vacuum of leadership in America? We’re looking around for leaders of principle to step up and too often, no one is there. God is raising up a generation of young leaders with a passion for impacting the world around them. They’re crying out for the mentorship and leadership training they need. Patriot Academy was created to meet that need. Patriot Academy graduates now serve in state capitals around America in the halls of Congress and business in the film industry in the pulpit in every area of the culture, they’re leading effectively and impacting the world around them. Patriot Academy is now expanding across the nation. And now’s your chance to experience this life changing week that trains champions to change the world, visit PatriotAcademy.com for dates and locations, our core program is still for young leaders 16 to 25 years old, but we also now have a citizen track for adults. So visit the website today to learn more. Help us fill the void of leadership in America. Join us in Training Champions to change the world at patriot academy.com.

We’re back here at WallBuilders. Thanks for staying with us back with David and Tim Barton. And guys. I mean, we know regulations bad we know the Biden administration doesn’t want drilling. They’re essentially sold out to the environmental wackos out there. But it sounds like Todd’s saying, you know, pretty decent chance this might go through.

David Barton
Well, you know it’s significant of several important things he said. One is this has been stopped by the bureaucracy. This has gone through five presidents. It’s not the presidents that are stopping it. This is part of that swamp that We’ve talked about for the last four to five years. This is the bureaucracy stopping it. And they’re not following even what the law says what the Presidents want. This is they’ve got their own agenda. And so that’s a problem within itself. So can we get it done? The fact that it’s now getting a lot of sunshine on that bureaucracy will help move this thing forward. The other thing I think that Todd made, that was really great point was, you’ve got… It doesn’t matter how bipartisan this is, and this is a bipartisan project out of Alaska. This is really whether you worship at the Church of climate change, if you’re into thinking that you worship the creation more than the Creator. That’s where common sense goes out. And Rick, you made a comment about this, this defies common sense. And going back to Dennis Prager and the Rational Bible, he talks about the origin of common sense is a fear of God. And when you have a fear of God in Proverbs, that’s what leads you to common sense. And if there’s a lack of common sense, and because of the lack of a fear of God, and if you’re worshipping at the altar of the creation, rather than the Creator, there’s not going to be common sense associated with this. And that’s what we’re facing right now. But hopefully, this will break through. It needs to we need more free enterprise going, we need more energy going. There’s a lot of good things about this. And as Todd points out, we’re the only nation in the world this reduced our carbon footprint. And yet we’re the nation’s under attack the most makes no sense. So Todd’s out there as a spokesman and voice on this and that’s really good.

Rick Green
Good information for all of our listeners today. You can share this program by taking the link at WallBuildersLive.com and sharing it with your friends and family be a force multiplier out there lots of ways you can help us restore this constitutional republic. We sure appreciate you listening to WallBuilders