President Biden’s announced decision to release 50 million barrels of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move aimed at lowering gas prices drew immediate criticism from two Oklahoma congressmen. Both said the problem was one caused by Biden.
Republican Tom Cole, OK-04, said the reserve is supposed to be used during genuine national emergencies and not as a mechanism to reduce the price of gasoline.
“If the Biden Administration wants to lower gasoline prices, it should end its war on the American oil and gas industry,” he said in a statement from his office on Tuesday.
“It could do so by reversing its decision to limit new exploration and production on federal lands and authorizing construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The Trump Administration showed that when domestic production of oil and gas is encouraged, robust economic growth and low gasoline prices can also exist simultaneously.”
Congressman Frank Lucas, another Republican Representative said in response that in just two years, the United States has gone from energy independent and net exporter to energy dependent.
“After canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and greenlighting Russia’s Nord Stream II, President Biden is now tapping our strategic reserves and imploring OPEC to produce more oil to mitigate a self-inflicted energy crisis,” said the western Oklahoma Representative.
He said the decision to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is not a sustainable nor responsible policy solution.
Rep. Cole also said the high prices at the pump are directly the result of the Biden Administration’s decision to punish the domestic oil and gas industry.
“That is exactly the wrong approach. In the end, all it does is raise energy costs all Americans are forced to pay, contribute to rapidly rising inflation and make the United States dangerously dependent on foreign countries and producers for its energy needs.”
Rep. Lucas agreed.
