(The opinions expressed in guest op-eds are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.)

Over the past two weeks, some liberal pop culture icons, and even a member of the Biden administration, have begun to begrudgingly embrace fossil fuels.

A couple of weeks ago, energy and space entrepreneur Elon Musk called for increasing domestic oil and gas production. Despite leading Tesla, the largest, most successful electric vehicle manufacturer in the world—a company that benefits from higher oil and gas prices—Musk tweeted to his 63 million followers, “Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil and gas output immediately. … Obviously, this would negatively affect Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil and gas exports.” Musk is putting the nation’s well-being ahead of his self-interest.

Then last week, on his show Real Time, proudly liberal talk show host Bill Maher called for Democrats to compromise on domestic oil and gas production, and nuclear power. Maher said, “I feel like this country, if it was a normal country, or the way it used to be, seminormal, we could make a grand bargain. Where the left gave up some things, they would — I mean, nuclear, I’m not for nuclear. I know it’s not a perfect solution, … [b]ut … there are no perfect solutions, give a little on that one or maybe even fracking. As long as we’re going to use the energy, use it here…use the stuff that we get…because we’re a big energy producer now.”

Maher was essentially saying, you don’t have to like nuclear, oil, and gas to acknowledge the important role they play powering an affordable economy.

Perhaps most surprisingly of all, The Wall Street Journal reported Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Richard Glick recently endorsed the use of natural gas. The article noted that in response to industry officials questioning “whether the Biden administration’s commitment to cleaner fuels would hinder the development of gas-export terminals … when Europe wants more Western fuel as a bulwark against Russian aggression,” Glick said, “If you are going to export natural gas and it’s going to reduce coal-fired generation in Poland, for instance, that actually is a net-positive.”

Of course, Glick’s faint praise for natural gas was tied to the Biden administration’s obsession with fighting climate change, not with regards to the more direct problem of reducing Europe’s and America’s reliance on Russian oil and gas.

Talk is not enough, however, pressure should be maintained on the Biden administration to expand domestic production of oil and gas as quickly as possible. Among the actions Biden should take would be to reverse recent regulations limiting flaring, fracking, methane emissions, restarting oil and gas leasing on federal lands and offshore—which, by the way, they were directed to do by a federal court—clear the backlog of thousands pending permits for oil and gas production for leases already purchased, and expedite the approval of oil and gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas export terminals.

FERC itself is bipolar on the issue of natural gas: They tout it publicly as a clean and important resource that should be used, while at the same time passing policies that hamper our ability to use it or expand infrastructure. And the new rules are completely unnecessary.

Data tracking the increased natural gas use in the United States show emissions reductions have proceeded despite environmentalists’ concerns.

An analysis by Tim Benson of The Heartland Institute found since 2005, natural gas-fired electricity generation increased by 108 percent while power sector emissions declined by more than a third.

Actions count more than words. Emissions fell under President Donald Trump despite the United States withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. In fact, they fell more in the United States than any of the countries that remained in the Paris Agreement.

Sadly, thus far, the Biden administration’s response to the energy crisis and the sky-high inflation it has caused has been to beg a slew of dictators not named Vladimir Putin to increase their oil production while draining the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Other than that, the administration has done nothing but go on TV and blame others for the crisis they created.

Biden’s team is trying to play both sides without making real moves that might enrage their radical, progressive, environmental base.

Words are not enough. It is time wealthy Washington politicos walk the walk by taking the shackles off our energy industry.

Linnea Lueken (l[email protected]) is a research fellow with and H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., ([email protected]) is the director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at The Heartland Institute.