President Biden’s latest move to release 180 million barrels of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an attempt to lower gasoline prices was heavily criticized by Oklahoma Congressmen Tom Cole and Frank Lucas.
“President Biden’s decision to release more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is misguided, reckless and completely irresponsible. Yet again, he is ignoring the obvious solutions at his disposal that are reliable and readily available to address the all-time high prices at the pumps, and it would not involve tapping into our emergency reserve,” said Cole.
And Rep. Lucas was equally harsh on Biden’s oil move.
“President Biden’s decision to further tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to backfill the deficit in global oil yields is irresponsible, misguided, and will further jeopardize our national security as the Biden Administration continues to drain important emergency reserves,” he said Thursday afternoon shortly after the President’s announcement.
Biden made the announcement at the White House and while Cole, Lucas and others have put the blame of high gasoline prices mostly on the back of the President, Biden didn’t accept the blame.
Rep. Cole said instead of release oil from the Strategic Reserve, Biden should unleash domestic energy production to supply more oil and gas.
“President Biden could easily reverse the policies he implemented on day one, including restarting the Keystone XL pipeline, reopening federal lands for more exploration and production and adopting policies that encourage, rather than disparage, our domestic energy industry,” said Cole.
“Of course, to do these things the Biden Administration would have to admit its policies were short sighted, counterproductive and detrimental to the well-being of the American people. Instead of being honest, reversing course and doing the right thing, the Biden Administration is continuing to undermine America’s energy security and depleting our emergency reserves in the desperate hope that it will lower gas prices. It will not,” stated Cole.
Rep. Lucas said the release of oil by the administration won’t work.
“At this very moment, Americans need relief, but unfortunately, the Biden Administration’s misguided policies stand in the way of realistically easing Americans’ pain at the pumps,” he said.
“Today’s energy crisis shows that the United States needs an all-of-the-above energy approach, not a sudden halt of oil and natural gas production, especially if America is to help wean our allies off Russian energy.”
But Biden’s announcement didn’t just focus on the release of oil, but also on punishing oil and gas companies for not increasing production from unused leases on federal land.
He also warned oil companies.