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 is 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. Bethany Blankley The Center Square The Sun Bay Paper Page 12 March 11, 2022 - March 17, 2022 Gas prices hit all-time high levels this week, and experts say this will not only increase prices consumers face at the pump, but at the grocery store and elsewhere, adding to the soaring inflation Americans have experiences the past year. “Since the start of the year, international oil prices have increased some 60% to their present level of around $125 a barrel,” said Desmond Lachman, an economic expert at the American Enterprise Institute. “This has led to U.S. gas prices jumping by 40 cents a gallon to $4 a gallon. It is estimated that if sustained, the increase in international oil price could add 1.5 percentage points to consumer price inflation, which is already uncomfortably high at 7.5%.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a steady stream of data on the Consumer Price Index, which shows the most significant price increases in about four decades. “The all items index rose 7.5 percent for the 12 months ending January, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending February 1982,” BLS said. “The all items less food and energy index rose 6.0 percent, the largest 12-month change since the period ending August 1982. The energy index rose 27.0 percent over the last year, and the food index increased 7.0 percent.” As gas prices continue to rise, so too will the costs of other consumer goods and services, which already have increased nearly 7% from a year ago. Meanwhile, AAA puts the national average gas price at $4.17 a gallon, a major increase from $2.77 at the same time last year. That means a range of goods will become more expensive as the price to transport those goods increases. President Joe Biden’s ban on Russian oil imports Tuesday will likely send those prices even higher. “In addition to pushing up oil prices, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is sending grain and metal prices through the roof,” Lachman said. “That is yet another way in which the Russian crisis is darkening the U.S. inflation outlook.” Rasmussen released new polling data showing that the vast majority of Americans expect those prices to continue to rise. “The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 78% of American Adults say they're paying more for a gallon of gas today compared to six months ago, and 84% think it’s likely those prices will continue to climb over the next six months,” Rasmussen said. “This includes 64% who think it’s Very Likely they’ll be paying even more for a gallon of gas in six months than they are today.” The University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton School of Business estimated that the average household spent $3,500 more in 2021 than the previous year “to achieve the same level of consumption of goods and services as in recent previous years.” “Energy prices are the largest driver of the high inflation that Americans are facing,” said Katie Tubb, an economic expert at the Heritage Foundation. “Petroleum met 90 percent of Americans’ transportation fuel needs – energy used by automobiles, trucks, buses, trains, aircraft, and ships. Think of all the activities, goods, and services that rely on transportation and you start to get an idea of how crude oil and gasoline prices push up costs throughout the entire economy. The way out of high prices is more supply – something the Biden administration to date has been unwilling to commit to.” Biden has been widely criticized for the new restrictions he put in place on the U.S. oil and gas industry since taking office in January 2021. Other experts said while gas prices will drive inflation, it remains unclear how significant that impact will be. Casey Harper The Center Square Gas Price Hike Raises More Fears of Inflation Spike
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