Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven
WASHINGTON – At a press conference with his Senate Republican colleagues this week, Senator John Hoeven pushed back on the Biden administration’s policies that are hurting Americans at the gas pump and driving up prices across the economy.
“The Biden administration needs to take the handcuffs off our energy producers. We can produce a lot more oil and natural gas, and do it with the best environmental stewardship in the world,” said Hoeven. “This is supply and demand. Two years ago, the U.S. was producing just under 13 million barrels per day of oil, and now we’re down to about 11.5 million barrels per day. That’s less supply because of the Biden administration’s policies.
“It starts with the moratorium on leasing for federal lands, both onshore and offshore. The Biden administration says energy companies have the leases, but if you hold up the lease with regulation and court challenges, they can’t produce energy on that land. That’s exactly what the Biden administration is doing.
“Then, they’re holding up our ability to move oil and gas across the country by blocking pipelines. In 2015, I introduced S. 1, a bill to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. We passed it through the Senate and the House, and President Obama vetoed it. If not for that, the pipeline would be bringing nearly a million barrels of oil per day from our closest friend and ally Canada. That’s oil we now don’t have.
“We have stranded natural gas in North Dakota because we can’t get the permits for the gathering systems and pipelines we need to get it to market, let alone to our allies. We also need LNG facilities to get our natural gas to Europe. If we want to continue to cut off the Russia war machine, we need to cut off their ability to sell energy.
“To the Biden administration – until you change your energy policy, don’t tell Americans you’re trying to help. Your policy is the problem.”
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