Today, the Biden administration announced it will release 50 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) issued the following statement in response:
"Instead of taking responsibility for the energy crisis of his own making, President Biden is trying to put a band-aid on a bullet wound by releasing oil from the SPR. In the past, presidents have only used the SPR during emergencies like natural disasters or war as a way to quickly correct the market and get it back to normal. Now, however, President Biden is using the SPR to compensate for the crisis he created by shutting down oil and gas production on federal lands and waters, and then seeming surprised when the market falters as a direct result. He's embarrassed the U.S. on a global stage by pleading with OPEC to bail us out from his energy crisis, and now he's jeopardizing our long-term energy reserves and national security in an attempt to staunch the bleeding on an emergency of his own making. It's time for this administration to look in a mirror, accept the facts, and stop their attacks on domestic energy production."
Background
The Biden administration has been desperately turning to OPEC nations to solve the crisis of sky-high energy and gas prices. OPEC has ignored them at every turn, refusing to increase oil production. At the same time, the administration continues to demonize domestic energy producers, even calling on the FTC to investigate the US oil and gas industry for anti-consumer behavior. In fact, the Biden administration has been attacking the industry since day one, both with rhetoric and anti-energy policies, discouraging the industry from investing in increased production with such an uncertain regulatory future.
House Natural Resources Committee Democrats have aided in these attacks by passing numerous bills that would inflict "death by a thousand cuts" on the oil and gas industry on federal lands and waters. These bills would arbitrarily raise existing fees and royalties and impose new fees, which together would make federal production even more difficult and energy costs for consumers even more expensive than they already are. The Democrats' harmful tax and spend budget reconciliation package increases energy costs and reduces energy supplies by imposing new fees and production cost increases and sweeping permanent moratoriums on offshore development in the Atlantic, Pacific and Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
