MORGANTOWN – Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R.-W.Va., and Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., all issued comments on President Biden’s Tuesday announcement that the Department of Energy will release 50 million barrels from the Strategic Oil Reserve in order to stave off rising fuel prices.
Manchin is chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He said:
“Today’s release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an important policy Band-Aid for rising gas prices but does not solve for the self-inflicted wound that shortsighted energy policy is having on our nation. With an energy transition underway across the country, it is critical that Washington does not jeopardize America’s energy security in the near term and leave consumers vulnerable to rising prices.
“Historic inflation taxes and the lack of a comprehensive all-of-the-above energy policy pose a clear and present threat to American’s economic and energy security that can no longer be ignored. I continue to call on President Biden to responsibly increase energy production here at home and to reverse course to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built, which would have provided our country with up to 900,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada, one of our closest allies.
“To be clear, this is about American energy independence and the fact that hard working Americans should not depend on foreign actors, like OPEC+, for our energy security and instead focus on the real challenges facing our country’s future.”
Capito is ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. She said:
“Today’s announcement to release 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is simply an effort to mask the fallout of President Biden’s terrible energy policies. This follows his earlier requests to OPEC and Russia to increase production. He is asking dictators in the Middle East and Russia to produce more foreign oil even as he canceled the Keystone XL, made it harder to get oil and gas on federal lands, and is now asking Congress to pass legislation to permanently close the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
“These are just a few examples of how the president’s energy policies are completely nonsensical and put our energy independence in further jeopardy while increasing the prices Americans pay at the pump and to heat and light their homes.
“To top it all off, the earliest that today’s announcement could have any kind of limited impact on the market would be after Christmas, but Americans can’t wait. They are hurting now. And they are feeling the impacts of the administration’s runaway inflationary policies by paying higher prices for many things they can’t live without as we head into the holidays.
“If the president and his administration wanted to make a real, long-term impact, they would work to maximize domestic production and expedite energy infrastructure like pipelines — not close federal lands to drilling and add a federal tax to methane. After a long fight for energy independence, the U.S. finally became a leading oil and natural gas producer over the past few years — benefiting Americans with lower prices and a growing economy, and our allies with exports of American-made energy. As we head into the holiday season, President Biden is now giving all of that progress away as a gift to political special interests.”
McKinley is a member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy. He said:
“The Biden Administration’s disastrous energy policy, which included shutting down the Keystone Pipeline and limiting production on federal lands, has significantly reduced American oil production. This has caused the U.S. to rely on foreign oil and has resulted in surging gas and oil prices.
“The Administration’s decision to address these high prices, a crisis they created, by tapping into the Strategic Oil Reserves is as irresponsible as it is shortsighted and has no long-term benefit for Americans. With winter approaching, the solution to reduce reducing energy costs is to allow more American oil production and open oil and gas pipelines, consistent with an all-of-the above energy strategy.”
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