The Biden Administration’s Dishonesty on Domestic Oil Production
American Energy Alliance’s statement on President Joe Biden’s proposal to release more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
WASHINGTON DC (March 31, 2021) Today the Biden administration announced it would release 1 million barrels a day for the next six months from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, issued the following statement.
“The Biden administration has done everything it possibly can to strangle domestic energy production, and this release from the SPR is not a sustainable plan to reduce prices. The SPR is not a Strategic Price Reserve. The President is trying to use it to bail out his failed policies. Over the past 10 years, no country in the world put more new oil on the market than the United States. More domestic production from the largest producer in the world–the US—is the only sustainable path toward bringing down prices.”
While the Biden administration can change course, this would require a 180-degree change from their current approach. The Biden administration claims that “The fact is that there is nothing standing in the way of domestic oil production.” This is not true. According to the latest numbers from the Department of Interior, there are currently:
- 33 percent fewer leases in effect than at the beginning of the Obama Administration (FY2009) (Bureau of Land Management’s Oil and Gas Statistics Fiscal Year 2021 Table 1—Number of Leases)
- 45 percent fewer acres under lease as at the beginning of the Obama Administration (FY2009) (Bureau of Land Management’s Oil and Gas Statistics Fiscal Year 2021 Table 2—Acreage in Effect)
- The highest percentage of leases are producing on federal lands in the data provided by the Department of Interior (Bureau of Land Management’s Oil and Gas Statistics Fiscal Year 2021 Comparing Table 1—Number of Leases and Table 5 Number of Producing Leases on Federal Lands)
- Less than 1.9 percent of federal areas are lands are leased for oil and gas development
Not allowing oil production on over 98 percent of federal lands, when the federal government is the largest land manager is a serious impediment to domestic oil production. Not only that, but just this week the Biden administration released a budget with no money to carry out offshore leasing. This would be the third year in a row without offshore leasing.
Additional Resources:
- Policy Brief on a potential 180 million barrel release from the SPR prepared by the Institute for Energy Research
- More commentary from AEA President Thomas Pyle on Biden’s announcement
- Instead of Allowing More Domestic Oil Production, Biden Is Tapping into Strategic Reserves Again and Ignoring the “Root Causes” of Higher Prices
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