With the stroke of a pen Wednesday, President Biden wiped out what will be a plethora of jobs in the oil and natural gas industry when he signed an executive order banning new drilling on federal lands. The ban was spun as just a “pause” and a “freeze” by the broadcast networks as they tried to downplay and dismiss concerns of lost jobs, suggesting they could just get new ones at a time when many were struggling to find one because of the pandemic.
“And with scientists warning of more extreme weather due to climate change, today President Biden everyone took action to confront what he calls an existential threat,” boasted CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell before handing it off to chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes.
Cordes touted Biden’s move and chided former President Trump for relaxing many of the EPA’s erroneous policies:
CORDES: The executive order he signed today establishes a White House office of domestic climate policy, directs federal agencies to procure zero-emissions vehicles, and it calls for a pause on all new oil & gas leases on public lands and in off-shore waters.
BIDEN: It's not time for small measures.
CORDES: His predecessor often questioned the existence of climate change. And rolled back nearly 100 environmental rules and regulations related to air pollution, protected species, drilling, and water.
She concluded by scoffing at lawsuits trying to overturn Biden’s executive order. “Tonight, President Biden's new executive order is already facing pushback,” she said. “And even lawsuits from the oil & gas industry, which argues that halting new projects only hurts states like New Mexico which rely on tax revenue from drilling on public lands.”
Another reporter calling the ban a “pause” was NBC chief environmental affairs correspondent Anne Thompson. However, she was the only one to admit the order was “controversial.” “The most controversial order, pausing new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters. In New Mexico, some fear it will cost jobs as most of its oil and gas production is on federal land,” she reported.
Thompson also interviewed Rob Black, the President and CEO of the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, who was against the order. “It will shift investment of future dollars to private land in Texas or it will -- the production of that oil will move overseas,” he told her. But this was only a fraction of the report.
Over on ABC’s World News Tonight, they were all in on pushing the administration’s line that his executive orders were actually job makers. “Former President Trump regularly told supporters that Biden's climate policies would cost them their jobs,” chief White House correspondent Cecilia Vega as she touted her question to climate czar John Kerry:
VEGA: There certainly oil and gas industry workers who are watching you both right now who will hear the message, that the takeaway to them is that they are seeing an end to their livelihoods. What do you say to them?
KERRY: I think that, unfortunately, workers have been fed a false narrative. No surprise, right? They've been fed the notion that, somehow, dealing with climate is coming at their expense. No, it's not.
“The administration promising, that workers will not be left behind. Instead, they'll get new green jobs right at home,” she added.
This aversion to covering the killing of jobs was made possible because of the lucrative sponsorships from Liberty Mutual on ABC, Ameriprise on CBS, and Vick’s on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund. CBS Evening News has also asked viewers to “text Norah” at this number: (202) 217-1107.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC’s World News Tonight
January 27, 2021
6:43:22 p.m. Eastern(…)
CECILIA VEGA: The actions mandate, for the first time, that climate change be a central part of all national security and foreign policy decisions. They also freeze new oil and natural gas leases on federal land and waters. Invest in low income and minority communities disproportionately impacted by pollution. And order the government to purchase zero emission vehicles for its massive fleet.
(…)
VEGA: Former President Trump regularly told supporters that Biden's climate policies would cost them their jobs. And today, I put that question to the administration's new climate czar, John Kerry.
There certainly oil and gas industry workers who are watching you both right now who will hear the message, that the takeaway to them is that they are seeing an end to their livelihoods. What do you say to them?
JOHN KERRY: I think that, unfortunately, workers have been fed a false narrative. No surprise, right? They've been fed the notion that, somehow, dealing with climate is coming at their expense. No, it's not.
VEGA: The administration promising, that workers will not be left behind. Instead, they'll get new green jobs right at home.
[Cuts to live]
DAVID MUIR: Arguing many jobs to come.
(…)
CBS Evening News
January 27, 2021
6:42:16 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: And with scientists warning of more extreme weather due to climate change, today President Biden everyone took action to confront what he calls an existential threat. CBS’s Nancy Cordes reports from the White House.
[Cuts to video]
NANCY CORDES: President Biden vowed today to put the climate crisis at the center of U.S. foreign policy.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. We can't wait any longer.
CORDES: The executive order he signed today establishes a White House office of domestic climate policy, directs federal agencies to procure zero emotion vehicles, and it calls for a pause on all new oil & gas leases on public lands and in off-shore waters.
BIDEN: It's not time for small measures.
CORDES: His predecessor often questioned the existence of climate change. And rolled back nearly 100 environmental rules and regulations related to air pollution, protected species, drilling, and water.
(…)
[Cuts back to live]
CORDES: Tonight, President Biden's new executive order is already facing pushback. And even lawsuits from the oil & gas industry, which argues that halting new projects only hurts states like New Mexico which rely on tax revenue from drilling on public lands.
NBC Nightly News
January 27, 2021
7:09:37 p.m. Eastern(…)
ANNE THOMPSON: The most controversial order, pausing new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters. In New Mexico, some fear it will cost jobs as most of its oil and gas production is on federal land.
ROB BLACK (New Mexico Chamber of Commerce president and CEO): It will shift investment of future dollars to private land in Texas or it will -- the production of that oil will move overseas.
THOMPSON: Trying to keep today's workers working while creating tomorrow's jobs. Anne Thompson, NBC News.
(…)
