(2) GOP: BIDEN SPR DRAWDOWN PUTS NATIONAL SECURITY AT RISK: In a letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) said the Biden administration’s unprecedented Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) drawdown, and no credible plan to replenish the SPR puts U.S. energy and national security at risk.
According to the letter, Biden officials John Podesta and Amos Hochstein said the administration is considering future SPR releases to lower gas prices.
Rodgers and Barrasso said the Biden administration’s mismanagement of the SPR, combined with a “whole-of-government approach” to phasing out oil and natural gas development, is disrupting near-term prices and jeopardizing future resource development.
Why It Matters: The SPR is at a historically low level. The Biden administration has touted plans to refill the SPR, but oil purchases have been a fraction of the release. Biden released 290 million barrels in the lead-up to the 2022 midterm election to lower gas prices, and fewer than 10 million barrels have been purchased by the DOE to refill the SPR. Multiple planned SPR purchases have also been postponed or canceled. The SPR currently has about 17 days of oil, which leaves the U.S. vulnerable to supply chain disruptions in the event of a crisis or conflict that impacts domestic oil production and foreign oil imports. – R.C.
