While the US cuts ties with Russian fossil fuel imports, top White House officials have been busy bragging that oil production in the US is reaching record highs. Never mind the climate crisis, eh?

Today, the US announced a ban on Russian oil and gas imports as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to double down on economic sanctions towards Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

“Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports, and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine,” the president said Tuesday at the White House.

The UK announced it will follow suit and also phase out Russian imports of oil and oil products by the end of 2022. Despite some initial speculation that Europe might jump on the bandwagon, it looks like the US will go after the import ban just with the UK. 

It’s a huge move that is likely to send shockwaves through global energy markets and spark economic blowback (as well as perhaps trigger some harsh retaliation from Russia). However, the US believes that it’s the appropriate action to take, not least because their fossil fuel production is booming. 

“US production of natural gas and oil is rising and approaching record levels: More natural gas than ever this year, more oil than ever next year, and, even with a global pandemic, more oil production this past year than during the previous administration’s first year,” tweeted White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Sunday. 

“Oil production is up more than 700K b/d from Jan to Dec of last year, and is projected to be up more than 700K b/d from Jan to Dec this year, and to rise nearly 500K b/d to new record over the course of next year,” added Psaki. “In fact, the U.S. was a net exporter of petroleum + petroleum products in each of the last two years, and will be a net exporter of natural gas for years to come.”

You may remember that before the recent crisis in Ukraine, world leaders pledged to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as well as significantly reduce emissions by 2030, after the much-lauded COP26 climate conference in November. A never-ending stream of scientific studies has continued to stress that this plan needs to be acted on urgently or else the world will face a cascade of climate troubles, from droughts and extreme heatwaves to rising sea levels.

The grand plans to cut emissions and make this change, it seems, have fallen by the wayside for now. 

The White House still acknowledges the pressing need to switch to renewable energy. In his address on Tuesday, President Joe Biden indicated that this move to ban Russian oil imports could be a step towards the US becoming energy independent and more invested in clean energy. 

In her Twitter thread on Sunday, Psaki also noted: “The only way to protect US over the long term is to become energy independent. That is why the President is so focused on deploying clean energy technologies that don’t require fossil fuels bought and sold on the global market, which will always be vulnerable to bad actors.”

However, given the rocky road ahead, it’s uncertain whether this push towards clean energy is just more empty rhetoric. For the time being, it sounds like business as usual.