Biden snubs oil execs, glad-hands wind companies: 'We're about to build a better America'

President Biden met with offshore wind industry executives Thursday after snubbing oil executives summoned to Washington to come up with “concrete solutions” to combat skyrocketing gas prices.

The wind energy rendezvous, which included senior administration officials, labor leaders, and several East Coast governors, marked the White House’s launch of a new federal-state offshore wind partnership meant to “jumpstart the American offshore wind industry.”.

They plan to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, enough power, The White House said, to power 10 million homes.

Biden said the endeavor will support 77,000 jobs and spur $12 billion per year in private investment for offshore wind projects.

The president boasted that such a White House meeting could not have taken place just years ago but now he has improved the relationships between business, labor and government.

The White House said there was nothing behind the snub, and said his meeting with the clean energy crowd “is something that he does very often.”.

“There were governors in that meeting who were virtual and in person,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the meeting on wind energy.

The tone of the administration’s meeting with oil executives was less chipper

Pierre said the meeting was a “productive dialogue focused on creating an opportunity for the industry to work with the government to help deliver needed relief to American consumers.”

The American Petroleum Institute and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers said in a joint statement that said talks will continue with policymakers in search of avenues to “unlock American energy, fuel economic recovery, and strengthen our national security.”