During the August 13 episode of Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, host Laura Ingraham and Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo pushed misleading narratives about U.S. oil production and fossil fuel industry jobs to claim that the Biden administration has “banned more drilling and exploration on federal lands,” and argued this was hurting the economy and job creation.
However, both claims are clearly contradicted by current data. As reported by Politico, “We're pumping more oil than any country in history and so much natural gas it’s driving the price down.” In addition, oil production on federal lands has soared during the Biden administration according to E&E News, increasing by approximately 530,000 barrels a day since 2020.
Politico further notes that U.S. oil production reached a new record last week, with “production clocking in at an average of 13.4 million barrels a day.” This represents a 5% increase in production from pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Despite this production boom, employment in oil and gas extraction has decreased by nearly 20% since 2019. Politico explains this apparent paradox: “You just need fewer workers to produce more oil,” according to Greg Upton, executive director of Louisiana State University's Center for Energy Studies.
These facts don't just challenge Fox’s narratives – they shatter them.
Record-breaking oil production coexists with job declines — not because of government restrictions, but due to the fossil fuel industry's relentless drive for efficiency and automation. Fox News’ simplistic drill more, hire more stance ignores how technology is rapidly reshaping the energy workforce. Ingraham's and Bartiromo’s alarmist claims crumble in the face of America's surging oil output, revealing blatant misinformation about U.S. energy production.
Moreover, this myopic focus on expanding fossil fuel production overlooks the urgent need to transition to renewable energy sources to mitigate the intensifying climate crisis — a transition that could create new, sustainable job opportunities.