Last week President Biden
Joe BidenUS says UN Russia has a list for Ukrainians ‘to die or be sent to camps’. Report Latest satellite images show a shift of Russian military activity near Ukraine. Biden agrees that he will meet with Putin “in principle” if Russia does no invade Ukraine.He promised to work like a devil in order to bring down gasoline prices. After more than half a decade of watching him plead Russia and OPEC for more oil production, while making it more difficult to American oil and natural gas producers, they were still skeptical. Here are some simple ideas that will help the president channel his inner Lucifer to reduce energy prices.
- Let’s move forward with leasing federal public lands. The government is required by law to conduct Leases on a quarterly basis, but since President Biden prohibited leasing during his first week of office… Overturned by a federal JudgeThere has not been a single lease sale on federal lands. The deadline for holding a lease sales this quarter was missed by the Interior Department. He could give the department instructions to begin leasing immediately.
- Stop the Biden administration’s regulatory overreach agenda. The Interior Department, Environmental Protection Agency, Securities and Exchange CommissionThe EPA and other agencies are aggressively pursuing regulations that will increase the cost of American oil and natural gas production. If you make something more costly, you get less of it, and higher prices to consumers. Stop the flood of new regulations that slow down American production.
- Appeal immediately federal judges decisionOverturning the offshore lease sale 257. The Biden administration should immediately join the attorneys general of Louisiana, and other Gulf states in appealing this ruling.
- Resign Nomination for Sarah Bloom Raskinto the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She has written extensively on debanking the natural gas and oil industries. Removing her nomination would send a clear signal to the market that the Biden government will not use the Fed or other government agencies to stop lending to energy companies. This would allow banks and other lenders to continue to invest in American production.
- Approve Keystone XL. This would create jobs and provide a route for oil from Canada to flow through, reducing dependence on Russia or OPEC. Keystone XL has the capacity to produce oil from North Dakota and Montana. The approval would send a strong signal for other pipeline projects that have been blocked by anti-oil/gas groups. More pipelines would result in more American energy being available at low prices to consumers. This would also reduce imports from unfriendly countries.
- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should be instructed to approve pipelines across the country that are being held up by red tape. Natural gas and oil pipelines make it easier to transport energy faster, more safely, and more efficiently across the country. This helps reduce energy inflation.
- Support the Modernization of National Environmental Policy ActNEPA rules that reduced the time it takes to do environmental analysis on federal infrastructure projects. NEPA analysis can take years and significantly increase the cost of building or reconstructing roads and bridges and energy infrastructure.
- Follow the Judges ruleLast week, the federal government stopped trying to impose a Social Cost of Carbon on all federal energy projects. The SCC is designed to increase energy consumption. Recognize the law does not support imposing an SCC on energy production and usage. Instead, stop any efforts to increase consumers’ costs.
These are just a few ideas that would allow America’s oil and gas producers to increase their production and help our nation regain its top spot as an international energy superpower. The Biden administration should pursue an energetic strategy that unleashes America’s ingenuity and natural gas worker.
No need to reinvent the wheel, Mr. President. Our nation’s producers have a track record of producing high quality energy resources that supply America and the rest of the world. Let us do our jobs and the United States, and the entire world, will benefit.
Kathleen Sgamma serves as President of Western Energy Alliance. Dan Naatz, Executive Vice President, Government Relations & Politics for the Independent Petroleum Association of America is (IPAA).
