Senators rip Biden over call for more OPEC production

Staff Report
Louisiana’s U.S. senators condemned President Joe Biden’s call for increased OPEC production “instead of putting Americans back to work,” they said in a letter.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, both Republicans, joined 22 GOP colleagues in signing the letter this week.
“It is astonishing that your Administration is now seeking assistance from an international oil cartel when America has sufficient domestic supply and reserves to increase output which would reduce gasoline prices,” wrote the senators.
The president issued his call for greater OPEC production as a means to reduce gas prices, which in south Louisiana have risen from below $2 per gallon to $2.50-$3 since Biden took office in January.
At the same time, the president has tried to block offshore lease auctions even as thousands of Louisiana residents have lost energy-related jobs since the fracking boom began more than a decade ago.
St. Mary Parish employment has fallen by about 9,000 jobs since oil prices began their plunge from more than $110 per barrel in autumn 2014.
The Biden administration has portrayed delays in offshore leasing as a way to reduce carbon emissions and slow climate change. The argument for emission controls has grown in strength in recent years as widespread wildfires in the West, unusually active hurricane seasons, and dramatic extremes in hot and cold weather have strengthened the argument for the human contribution to climate change.
The senators’ letter focused on the impact on jobs.
“We agree with your intent to reduce the cost of gas for hardworking Americans, but your domestic policy agenda has proven to have the opposite effect and continues to threaten American jobs and family budgets,” the senators.
“Last month, gas prices reached a seven year high and are forty-percent higher than they were on January 1, 2021,” they wrote.
“It is no surprise how we got here. Your Administration’s approach to domestic oil and gas development has been contrary to an ‘America First’ energy agenda and reinforces a reliance on foreign oil.
“For example, you have rejoined America into the radical, job-killing Paris Climate Agreement, cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline and its associated 10,000 jobs, imposed an apparently indefinite pause on oil and gas drilling leases on federal lands and waters, and proposed increasing taxes on those engaged in oil and gas development.
“These policies, in conjunction with runaway inflation, are increasing the price of gas and do not serve American interests. On the contrary, these policies threaten our energy and national security by making us more reliant on foreign nations for our energy needs.”
In addition to Cassidy and Kennedy, the letter was signed by U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Braun and Todd Young of Indiana, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven of North Dakota, Steve Daines of Montana, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Jim Imhoff and James Lankford of Oklahoma, Mike Lee of Utah, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran of Kansas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Dan Sullivan of Alabama and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.