The Biden Administration has repeatedly said it isn’t restricting oil and gas development.
But then why is it threatening to veto a House Republican bill that would tie oil releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to oil and gas leasing on federal land?
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has teed up a vote this week on a bill that would forbid the Energy Department from tapping the SPR unless it develops a plan to increase oil and gas leasing commensurately. [emphasis, links added]
If the White House wants to draw down the reserve by 5%, it has to lay out a plan to increase the share of federal land leased for oil and gas production by 5%.
The bill is intended to put Members of Congress on record for or against U.S. oil and gas production.
Democrats in the last Congress were allowed to pretend that they backed more U.S. drilling but never had to take a vote.
The SPR was established in the 1970s to mitigate oil supply shocks, but the Biden Administration has tapped it for political relief.
As gasoline prices climbed in the fall of 2021 amid the pandemic recovery, the Administration began releasing from the stockpile. It increased releases after the Ukraine invasion.
While the drawdowns more than offset the decline in Russian exports, they didn’t compensate for lower U.S. production, which remains about 900,000 barrels a day below the pre-pandemic peak.
Much of the pandemic growth in oil production has occurred on private and state land in the Permian basin where permitting is easier.
Soon after taking office, President Biden issued an executive order suspending new oil and gas leasing on federal land.
The policy was challenged in court and eventually enjoined, but the Administration has nonetheless dragged its feet on auctions and withheld land for leasing that is attractive to industry.
The Administration insists it isn’t preventing producers from drilling despite a regulatory fusillade against the industry.
The House GOP bill sends the message that the SPR shouldn’t be tapped merely to mitigate the harm to consumers caused by Mr. Biden’s policies.
Administration officials have twisted themselves in knots trying to explain why they oppose the bill even while they claim to support domestic production.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the bill “risks raising these gas prices” and makes it “harder to offer Americans relief in the future.”
But the bill wouldn’t prevent the Administration from tapping the reserve in a true emergency. It would merely require the government to open up more federal land for leasing.
The White House on Monday threatened to veto the bill, no doubt in part because it knows it may be hard for Senate Democrats such as Montana’s Jon Tester, Nevada’s Jacky Rosen, and New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich to oppose it if it passes the House.
This looks like a rare case of the House GOP being smart.
Read more at WSJ
Biden is lying when he says he isn’t restricting oil and gas development. Not only is the issue of leases, his EPA has implemented multiple requirements designed to make such production more expensive. The Republican bill is good in that it will force those in the Senate and House to go on records on this issue.