By Tyler O’Neil
Fox News
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated that energy independence is vital for national security, experts say, as European nations rely on Russian oil, a dependency that undermines the impact of the sanctions against the aggressor nation.
Although the U.S. relied much less on Russian oil (before President Biden nixed imports), America seems unable to replace Russia’s role in Europe, which weakens its ability to help allies squeeze Russia. Energy experts emphasized the importance of U.S. energy independence and laid out a strategy to achieve it in comments to Fox News Digital.
“America’s economic sanctions are limited by those of its allies (Europe, India and others) who are hooked on Russian gas,” Steve Milloy, a former Trump-Pence EPA transition member and founder of JunkScience.com, told Fox News Digital. “This dependence is unnecessary as Europe, for example, has plenty of coal and natural gas – Europe has the same fracking potential as the US – as well as nuclear power.”
