Republicans are using inflated hysteria over inflation to justify reversing course on the most consequential policy of our time: the shift to clean, renewable energy that localizes production and breaks the dependency on brutal despots, cartels and oligopolies (Big Oil) alike. The cyber attack on Colonial Pipeline and now the spike in prices (gouging, anyone?) at the pump because of Russia’s war on Ukraine should make the danger clear.

At the same time, the justified fear over Russia triggering a nuclear accident in its criminal attack on Ukraine’s nuclear power plants should also make clear that nuclear power, while emitting less climate-changing gases, poses a different existential threat.

At a rally in front of the Russian compound in Glen Cove in support of Ukraine, Congressman Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor, chided Biden for canceling the Keystone Pipeline project (finally!) and instead okaying Russia’s Nordstrom 2 pipeline to supply Germany. Zeldin made it sound like paying more at the pump was an unacceptable price to pay to stand up for democracy against autocracy. That just shows how off-track he and the Republicans are. (Talk about a Nanny State! Whatever happened to “Freedom isn’t free”?)

Zeldin betrays his willful ignorance of how gasoline prices are set (on the world market) and even less concern over what is triggering inflation: lingering effects of COVID-19 and supply chain issues; explosion of pent-up demand and savings after a year locked-down; not to mention 7.4 million new jobs and wages up 5.5 percent, the first real increase since Reagan; and the fact that “inflation” is based on a year of non-activity. Note that on May 12, 2021, gas prices averaged $3 a gallon for the first time since 2014, to the point oil companies were paying to get rid of oil rather than pay to store it.

And to put the hysteria into perspective: on June 8, 2008, $4 a gallon was seen for the first time but that is equivalent to $5.24 today; July 17, 2008 set the all-time record high of $4.103 per gallon, equivalent to $5.37 today. Gasbuddy is anticipating $4.25 a gallon by Memorial Day, still well below the “real” high of $5.37 in today’s money.

Meanwhile, Big Oil isn’t suffering at all: BP profits soared to an eight-year high of $13 billion; Shell’s earnings skyrocketed to $19.3 billion; Chevron raked in $15.6 billion; Exxon Mobil reported $23 billion in profits, and CEO pay is rising along with profits. And yet Big Oil received $21 billion in subsidies in 2021 and spends millions of that lobbying against incentives to develop clean, renewable energy. Also, have you noticed that prices soar in the morning on news, but don’t retreat after whatever supply issue is resolved?

The same is true for food and other sectors – companies are simply taking advantage, rewarding shareholders and CEOs. Fortunately, the Biden administration is also prosecuting price gouging.

“The truth is people set prices, and 60 percent of the price increases that ordinary Americans are paying today are going directly to corporate profits – not to compensate for global supply issues or higher production costs. It’s price-gouging, plain and simple,” writes Paul Constant of Civic Action. “While trickle-down politicians traditionally lowered inflation by raising interest rates, that hurts ordinary Americans because it slows the economy and shrinks the labor market.”

Before the Ukraine crisis, Republicans were actually blaming rising wages for inflation. Indeed, the White House just released a U.S. Treasury report showing that corporate America has used its clout in the labor market to keep wages 20 percent lower than they should be.

Now Republicans have a more convenient target, banking on the “misery index” to win back Congress.

But as President Biden noted in his State of the Union address, “One way to fight inflation is to drive down wages and make Americans poorer. I think I have a better idea to fight inflation: Lower your costs, not your wages. And, folks, that means make more cars and semiconductors in America, more infrastructure and innovation in America, more goods moving faster and cheaper in America, more jobs where you can earn a good living in America. Instead of relying on foreign supply chains, let’s make it in America.”

Biden’s plan is to cut costs, particularly of necessities like prescription drugs (insulin at $35 instead of $1,000), child care (limited to 7 percent of income) and elder care, and, yes, energy expense. Also, to increase competition and break up the oligopolies like the four meat-packing plants which stiff ranchers, and increase productivity and innovation through advanced manufacturing and technology (recovering 1.2 million manufacturing jobs lost in the pandemic). Also, implement Made in America/Buy American policies by the biggest consumer in America, the U.S. government, the essence of his popular COMPETES Act. (Will Senate Republicans block that too?)

Biden’s historic Infrastructure Law makes billions of dollars in investments to transition to clean renewable energy, including building a network of charging stations so that EVs can in fact replace the gas guzzlers and save consumers money while ending our need to suck up to murderous dictators. Reducing demand for gasoline will reduce prices, hence de-inflation in a capitalist society. He also is confronting the supply chain issues head on, making improvements to ports and promoting investments in new manufacturing (high-paying jobs AND semiconductors made here!).

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also has solutions to reduce inflation pressures that don’t abandon climate actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. As just one example, she just announced $25 million through the Clean Energy Initiative to create 1,500 energy-efficient, climate-friendly affordable homes in existing multifamily buildings – part of her plan to curb building emissions and achieve two million climate-friendly, electrified, or electrification-ready homes by 2030. (The magic word is “affordable.” )

I don’t want the administration to be releasing oil reserves to lower the price at the pump, drill or frack more, build more pipelines or pause gas taxes – Americans only conserve when prices are high. Indeed, the Ukraine crisis has drowned out the other headline: the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported the pace of climate change is rapidly outstripping humanity’s capacity to deal with it.

As Biden’s climate czar, John Kerry, told an energy conference, the crisis in Ukraine is going to be a “defining moment” for this century, saying the stakes “could not be higher,” even if the world has to live with higher energy costs for a time. “You already see what’s happening with global temperatures up 1.2 degrees [Celsius]… you’re already seeing climate refugees,” Kerry said.

Indeed, the numbers of climate refugees will dwarf the 1.5 million – heading to 5 million – Ukrainians escaping Russia’s atrocities.