Lankford Says Reversing Anti-Energy Policies Is the Real Solution to Lower Gas Prices, Not Pulling Emergency Oil Reserves

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Senator James Lankford (R-OK), member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today issued the following statement after the Biden Administration announced it would release 1 million barrels of oil per day for six months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to attempt to address high gas prices:

“Apparently President Biden just discovered that the American economy runs on oil and natural gas. After attacking traditional energy sources that fuel our nation for a year, the price at the gas pump has risen significantly. Then Putin’s invasion of Ukraine made prices even worse,” said Lankford. “Now, the most progressive President ever is releasing 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an attempt to bring down the prices that his policies raised. This is his third major release from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is designed to protect our national security, not the President’s poll numbers. We need long-term policy changes like common sense regulations on pipelines, preventing the Federal Reserve from cutting off access to capital for oil and gas companies, opening up federal lands to energy exploration, and providing regulatory consistency to allow US energy producers certainty to invest again. If Biden wants to lower gas prices, he should spend more time talking about supply solutions with the many US energy companies he’s alienated and less time glad-handing climate-change activists”

Lankford continues to lead the Senate on how to address the problems Biden has caused for stalled US energy production, skyrocketing gas prices, and increased home heating costs. Lankford recently introduced the Energy Regulations Certainty Act to prevent President Biden from issuing new US oil and gas regulations and restrictions until after Russian troops have withdrawn from Ukraine. Lankford sent two letters to the President asking him to restore America’s energy dominance and to change course on the failing energy policies that are emboldening Putin. Lankford stood up to FERC for its ongoing push to stifle and even stop US energy production because of Biden’s lock-step with climate-change extremists.

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