Television host Mike Rowe reacted on Wednesday to an interview with displaced oil workers slamming President Joe Biden’s recent executive order, calling it "a heartbreaker" the way skilled laborers have been treated in "such a high-handed manner."
The former host of "Dirty Jobs" explained during an appearance on "Fox & Friends" that "everybody" is affected by fundamental imbalances in the oil and gas industry. He added that the effects will be much larger than just the 11,000 Keystone Pipeline jobs lost, as the impacts will "ripple all the way to the coasts."
"Just wait until we truly make [the oil and gas industry] the enemy and disconnect ourselves so completely from that part of our economy that we really start to see the impact," Rowe said. "Then you’ll have 330 million people involved in this conservation."
Rowe is the host of "Six Degrees with Mike Rowe" on streaming service Discovery+.
Biden recently signed new executive orders to stop new leases owned by the oil and gas industry on federal land and eliminate subsidies for oil and other fossil fuels. In addition, his orders also commit the US to conserving 30 percent or more of federal land by 2030.
Critics of Biden’s recent executive actions, including many members of the GOP such as Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, argue that the administration’s efforts to combat climate change are killing American jobs and give strategic advantages to foreign governments.
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In the past, President Biden has flip-flopped his stance on fracking and the oil industry. During the presidential debate on October 22, 2020, Biden said that he would "transition from the industry" when pressed by Donald Trump.
Less than a week later, Biden clarified his stance and said that "the oil industry is not going to go away, and the oil industry itself, if you notice what it’s doing, it’s branching out beyond oil."