Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Whitaker, leading the Biden-Harris government’s climate agenda for American aviation, owns an oil well in Wyoming. Leased to Hilcorp Energy, the largest private oil company in the U.S., the well is valued at up to $100,000, with the net-zero technocrat receives annual royalties of up to $5,000 from Hilcorp.
Whitaker’s fossil fuel income raises questions about the sincerity of the Biden-Harris climate agenda. The White House has been pushing for a transition to green energy since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, with Whitaker and the FAA being given a significant role. In February, Whitaker announced regulations aimed at achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, including so-called sustainable aviation fuels.
Whitaker’s financial ties to the oil industry cast doubt on how much the Biden-Harris government really cares about reducing fossil fuel use.
“This is exactly the kind of thing that gets everyday people furious because the people who are constantly turning the ratchet up to make their gas more expensive, their car more expensive, their airline ticket to see family more expensive, to limit what they can buy at the grocery store because it doesn’t align with certain green targets—are globe-hopping in private jets, owning oil wells, and living life with abandon,” commented O.H. Skinner, executive director of the Alliance for Consumers.
Harris infamously vowed to ban fracking on “day one” of a Harris administration during her 2019-20 run at the presidency, but she now claims she will not do so—as the policy would destroy jobs in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, and drive up energy costs even further.
