Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin responded this week to a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and wrote a letter to the editor pointing out the importance of hydraulic fracturing to support U.S. allies and keep energy costs low.
In it, Sen. Mullin asked the question, Where are Senate Democrats on fracking? He explained they immediately blocked his recent attempt to introduce the Protecting American Energy Production Act, a proposal that would have prohibited the President from Unilaterally canceling fracking projects.
The letter can be found below.
“Your editorial “Where’s Kamala on LNG Exports?” (Sept. 19) raises a question similar to the one I posed to my colleagues: Where are Senate Democrats on fracking?
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is essential to our ability to provide abundant, affordable energy to our citizens and allies. If House Democrats are writing to the White House in support of liquefied natural-gas exports, one might assume they should be in favor of fracking, too.
I took to the floor with Sen. Katie Britt (R., Ala.) to request that the Senate pass the Protecting American Energy Production Act by unanimous consent. This bill, which would have prohibited the president from unilaterally canceling fracking projects, was immediately blocked. Ironically, one of the senators who opposed it was from Massachusetts, whose residents pay the nation’s highest electricity costs to heat their homes.
Our allies want to do business with us, and our economy desperately needs it. Instead we’re letting the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries set the world price for crude and allowing our adversaries to get rich off our backs. Never mind that we could produce the energy in a much cleaner and more efficient way.
The world demand for fossil fuels is increasing. Why are we continuing the moratorium at the expense of the American taxpayer?”