Leadership starts with a strong national energy policy, and the United States must lead in our response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Everyone now knows more should have been done to stymie Russia before the invasion, but now we must look forward and lead with confidence and boldness to protect Americans and strengthen our allies in this fight for freedom.
Energy production in the U.S. is among the cleanest, safest, and most efficient in the world, yet President Joe Biden has consistently killed American energy capacity and increased our reliance on foreign adversaries, including Russia and Venezuela. Biden cannot continue standing idle as people spend millions filling gas tanks and heating homes.
Republicans have long warned of the negative implications of energy dependence, but Democrats and this administration have ignored our warnings. In January 2021, Biden issued an executive order suspending all oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters. Even as a federal judge ruled the ban illegal, we have yet to see a single new lease issued by the administration. Just four months later, in May 2021, Biden lifted sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which facilitates Russian energy imports to Europe. This decision came after he blocked the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have supplied 830,000 barrels of oil per day from our ally Canada to American refineries to meet domestic and global demand.
With this crisis in Ukraine and after worldwide pressure, the president finally changed his mind and sanctioned Nord Stream 2, but he failed to promote American energy as an alternative for our European allies. Attempting to disguise his mistake, he has twice withdrawn oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an attempt to lower gas prices. Clearly, Biden doesn’t understand that the SPR isn’t a presidential piggy bank to cover a flawed domestic energy strategy. The SPR isn’t substantially bringing down prices, and the piggy bank is quickly running dry.
Oil and natural gas are not the only areas in which Biden and Democrats have refused to listen to Republicans or to reason. As the administration continues myopically supporting electrification, it canceled leases for the Twin Metals project in Minnesota, which would serve as a major source of the critical minerals needed to achieve electrification goals. The Duluth Complex, where the project is located, would constitute 95% of our nickel reserves, 88% of our cobalt resources, and 75% of our platinum resources, all of which are critical components in steel, batteries, and magnets. And this is all mined in a way that is cleaner, safer, and more efficient in America. By withholding American resources, Biden is driving American dependence on foreign sources, which come with environmental and human costs, such as the use of child and slave labor. What is happening with Russia and energy markets today could easily happen tomorrow with China and critical minerals.
The U.S. has long led the world against authoritarians and toward freedom, and that’s why, along with Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, I introduced the American Energy Independence From Russia Act. This bill strengthens U.S. energy security and counters Russia by requiring that the president create a domestic energy plan. It immediately approves the Keystone XL pipeline and fast-tracks the construction of liquefied natural gas export facilities, creating good-paying American jobs. It unlocks America’s energy potential by requiring leasing and permitting of energy and mineral development on federal lands and waters, and it protects our domestic energy industries from further attacks by Biden.
Republicans have forced two votes on this bill in the House, but each time, Democrats have voted no. By refusing even to debate the bill, they are holding the public hostage to skyrocketing gas prices, which seep into other industries, including agriculture. As natural gas prices increase, so does the cost of fertilizer and food production, and that will cause prices to spike at the grocery store.
This war on American energy and American families must end. We cannot allow Biden to ignore the key role energy independence plays in national security. It is time for the U.S. once again to be an energy exporter and a strong ally to our friends around the world. The world is watching — let's make sure we’re leading, not bowing to Russia.
Original source can be found here.