25 Republican governors call on Biden to prioritize U.S. oil and gas production
North Dakota can produce enough crude oil to offset dependence on Russian imports, but the Biden administration is prohibiting it from doing so, the state’s governor and U.S. senators argue. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and 24 Republican governors have called on President Joe Biden to prioritize U.S. oil and gas production and restore American energy independence. They did so as crude oil hit $120 a barrel and is expected to surpass $200 a barrel, causing gas prices, and everything that depends on gasoline for transport, to skyrocket. The market went into a correction on Monday, after the U.S. already entered into a 40-year inflationary high. Both are expected to push the U.S. toward a volatile recession. This was totally avoidable, Burgum said. “From the unsecured southern border to the underutilized oil fields of North Dakota, President Biden’s misguided policies continue to put U.S. citizens at risk and hold America back,” he said. “The Biden administration has again failed to meet its obligation to hold a federal oil lease sale, [which] is further proof that this administration isn’t serious about U.S. energy security. The President needs to reverse his anti-oil policies and unleash American energy production to protect U.S. consumers and return our nation to a position where we can sell energy to our friends and allies instead of importing it from adversaries like Russia.” The Biden administration argues that its restrictions on oil and gas production are necessary to combat climate change and that there are enough untapped permits for drilling on federal land that the industry could increase production if it wanted to. North Dakota produces more than 1.13 million barrels of crude a day and 2,990,340 MCF (thousand cubic feet) of natural gas a day. Crude oil production from North Dakota alone would easily offset the imports from Russia, the governor argues. In Biden’s first year in office, he halted and restricted oil and gas leases on federal lands, stopped construction of the Keystone Pipeline, and redirected U.S. policy to import more oil from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia (OPEC+) instead of bolstering American oil and gas exploration and production. While U.S. production on federal lands was stifled in 2021, the U.S. imported 8.47 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined products, of which 672,000 barrels per day (8%) came from Russia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. The U.S. also imported 6.10 million barrels per day of crude oil, of which 199,000 barrels per day (3%) came from Russia. The U.S. has been importing about 473,000 barrels per day of refined products from Russia, Andrew Lipow of Houston-based Lipow Oil Associates LLC, told The Center Square in an email. Of this, 354,000 barrels a day are unfished oils, which means they need to be upgraded in refineries in the U.S. – mostly on the Gulf Coast because the Russian refineries aren’t unable to upgrade them. The U.S. also imports 697,000 barrels a day of gasoline blendstocks, of which 50,000 barrels a day (7%) came from Russia, Lipow said. This mainly goes to states on the East Coast. The U.S. also imports 287,000 barrels a day of distillate, of which 23,000 barrels a day (8%) come from Russia. This also mainly goes to states on the East Coast, he said. The 25 governors in their joint statement to Biden called on him “to reverse his policies and restore America’s energy independence for our citizens as well as our allies abroad. “By removing his bans on new oil and gas development on federal lands, building the Keystone XL pipeline, and reinstating regulatory reforms to streamline energy permitting, we can protect our national energy security and sell to our friends rather than buy from our enemies – specifically Russia.” Governors from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming signed the letter. North Dakota’s two Republican U.S. senators, John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, along with seven other cosponsors, also introduced the American Energy Independence from Russia Act in the U.S. Senate. The bill would require the Biden administration to submit an energy independence plan to Congress within 30 days that provides an energy security evaluation and risk assessment and plans to leverage America’s oil and gas resources. It would authorize the construction and operation of the Keystone XL pipeline, which Biden shut down when he entered office, and remove regulatory hurdles to increase liquefied natural gas exports. It also would prohibit any presidential moratoria on new federal leases and require the U.S. Department of Interior to hold a minimum of four oil and natural gas lease sales in fiscal year 2022 in each state that has federal land available for leasing. It also would prohibit the U.S. Energy Department Secretary from drawing down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the Secretary of the Interior issues a plan to increase oil and gas production on federal lands and waters. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Democrats call on Joe Biden to lower gas prices, support tax hikes, other regulations on the industry
Eleven U.S. Senate Democrats have called on President Joe Biden to do something about rising gas prices while also expressing support for policies that energy industry says are contributing to seven-year high costs at the pump, including oil and gas tax increases embedded in the Build Back Better Act. The 11 senators wrote this month that they support the president’s commitment to the development of “clean, renewable energy” but “must ensure that Americans are able to afford to fill up their cars at the pump in the meantime.” The average cost for a gallon of gasoline Friday was $3.41 a gallon, according to AAA. That’s $1.20 more a gallon than this time last year. Under the Donald Trump administration, the U.S. led the world in oil production and was energy independent. Under the Biden administration, gas prices are the highest they’ve been since 2014 within eleven months of him taking office. In their home states, the Democratic senators write, “high gasoline prices have placed an undue burden on families and small businesses trying to make ends meet, and have proven especially burdensome as our constituents continue to recover from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.” They blame rising gas prices “on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and others to purposefully manipulate gas prices by constraining supply, as well as the choice of domestic leaseholders and producers to continue to export U.S. petroleum.” They asked Biden to consider “all tools available” at his disposal to lower U.S. gasoline prices, including releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and banning crude oil exports. Biden instead responded by calling on the Federal Trade Commission to look into possible illegal conduct in the oil and gas industry that could be causing gas prices to rise. Those in the oil and gas industry say the reason for increasing prices is because of lower supply due to restrictions imposed on the industry by the Biden administration, including canceling the Keystone Pipeline, halting new leases for existing operations on federal lands, among other policies. American Petroleum Institute SVP Frank Macchiarola told The Center Square that Biden’s call was a distraction from his own energy policies, including restricting access to America’s energy supply and canceling important infrastructure projects. “Rather than launching investigations on markets that are regulated and closely monitored on a daily basis or pleading with OPEC to increase supply, we should be encouraging the safe and responsible development of American-made oil and natural gas,” Macchiarola said. Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, agrees, arguing, “The solution,” he says, “is not to disrupt energy opportunities that have been a driver to more economic gains for our state and nation.” Instead, all Americans, “should ask their elected officials to support the abundance of affordable, reliable energy available here at home.” U.S. energy policy “shouldn’t forfeit energy freedom for energy dependence,” Staples added. Instead, it must “encourage smart, science-based policies that advocate for homegrown production, domestic jobs, and economic advancement that benefit all Texans and every American. Unfortunately, we are feeling the repercussions of misguided policies that have encouraged foreign energy instead of encouraging American pipeline projects, domestic production, and trade opportunities.” One policy includes the “Methane Emission Reduction Act of 2021,” embedded in the BBBA, which imposes new taxes on all oil and gas producers for “ambient methane emissions.” Costs would be passed onto the consumer, the industry says, making gas prices even higher for the foreseeable future. Ed Cross, president of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Producers Association, said the plan requires the industry to measure “ambient methane emissions,” using technology that doesn’t currently exist or be taxed. “The tax is based on ambient methane emissions measurements,” Cross wrote in an op-ed published by the Kansas City Star. “The measurements would have to distinguish between oil and natural gas production, agricultural emissions – about a third of U.S. methane emissions – and landfill emissions – about a third of U.S. methane emissions. “And the measurements would have to be continuous – 24 hours/day every day. No such system exists and cannot be created in the foreseeable future.” Methane emissions are already highly regulated. Because of American technological innovation, natural gas production in the U.S. has lowered emissions, making the U.S. the world leader in emission reductions, industry leaders point out. The Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association argue the proposed taxes and fees on the industry “could cripple small Texas oil and gas operators and severely burden American taxpayers.” Additional taxes would “have a ripple effect through the entire U.S. economy, negatively impacting American jobs, domestic energy production, household energy bills and the cost of goods and services, including the price of gasoline,” TIPRO President Ed Longanecker said. “The U.S. oil and natural gas industry has demonstrated its commitment to reducing emissions through innovation, collaboration, and investment of hundreds of billions of dollars in greenhouse gas mitigating technologies throughout the value chain, and with quantifiable success. “Turning back the clock on carbon dioxide emissions and every other major air pollutant, natural gas leads the way,” he added. Increased natural gas production “through innovation and efficient practices brought back manufacturing jobs and saved American families $204 billion a year through lower electricity, oil, and natural gas prices. That’s the equivalent of $2,500 a year for a family of four.” During the statewide shutdown in 2020, when the oil and gas industry experienced a “bloodbath” of losses, Texas companies still produced 43% of the nation’s crude oil and 26% of its marketed natural gas. Nearly one-fourth of the nation’s operable refineries and one-third of the U.S. total refining capacity are in Texas, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports, with 31 petroleum refineries processing a combined total of almost 5.9 million barrels of crude oil per day. Texas also produces more electricity than any other state, EIA notes, generating nearly twice as much as Florida, the second-highest electricity-producing state. Roughly one-fourth of U.S. dry natural gas reserves and three-tenths of the 100
