Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, joined Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) in introducing the American Energy Independence from Russia Act.
“North Dakota’s excellence is a road map for American energy independence. We can unleash energy dominance by bringing American energy production back online. This is geopolitical leverage to counter Putin and other adversaries. We not only produce it better, but we have much higher labor and environmental standards. This is good policy for North Dakota and our nation,” said Senator Cramer.
“Over the past year, the Biden administration has locked away our nation’s energy reserves and impounded American energy independence, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reveals the true consequences of separating energy policy from national security policy,” said Senator Hoeven. “Our legislation is about harnessing America’s abundant energy resources to offset imports and revenue flowing to Russia, and taking immediate steps to encourage and empower domestic energy production. I appreciate my colleagues in the Senate and House who support these efforts and will continue pressing the administration for increased American energy production.”
This bicameral legislation takes immediate action to encourage increased U.S. production, including:
- Authorizes the construction and operation of the Keystone XL pipeline.
- Removes regulatory hurdles to increase liquefied natural gas exports.
- Prohibits any presidential moratoria on new energy leases.
- Requires the U.S. Department of the Interior to hold a minimum of 4 oil and natural gas lease sales in each state with land available for leasing in fiscal year 2022.
- Prohibits the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy from drawdowns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) until the Secretary of the Interior issues a plan to increase oil and gas production on federal lands and waters.
At the same time, the legislation requires the Biden administration to submit a plan to Congress within 30 days that provides an energy security evaluation and risk assessment, along with a plan to leverage America’s abundant oil and gas resources to offset imports from Russia.
Along with Senators Cramer and Hoeven, this legislation is cosponsored by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Ron Johnson (R-WI), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Jim Risch (R-ID), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY). It was introduced in the House of Representatives by House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-AR).