The 11 Republican members on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee provided President Joe Biden with a 10-step plan to regain America’s energy dominance on the world market.
“It is no secret that we have been opposed to the approach you have taken towards American energy production,” wrote U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the committee, who led his colleagues in sending a March 2 letter to Biden. “Mr. President, America is the world’s energy superpower. It is time we started acting like it again.”
Among the members who also signed the letter were U.S. Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), John Hoeven (R-ND), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
The lawmakers noted that United States policy should be to make Europe less reliant on Russian energy, not more. “American energy should be part of that diversification effort, but your administration has made that ever more difficult,” they wrote.
The senators listed 10 things that Biden and Congress can do to help “spur greater American energy production, blunt Russia’s and China’s energy-fueled geopolitical ambitions, and restore America’s dominant role in global energy:”
- Instruct the U.S. Department of the Interior to hold new oil and natural gas lease sales on federal lands and waters.
- Instruct the Securities and Exchange Commission to stop a planned rule to enhance “environmental, social, and governance” disclosures, which could depress equity valuations and raise the cost of debt financing, in turn making it more difficult for energy companies to raise capital and produce American energy.
- Expedite the approval of liquefied natural gas exports to America’s NATO allies and other strategic partners to promote the national security interests of the United States.
- Remove restrictions on international financing of natural gas and coal power plants. “Relinquishing U.S. support for these kinds of projects will drive developing countries to pursue projects with partners like China, to our detriment,” the senators wrote.
- Instruct the U.S. Department of Energy to begin purchases of domestically produced uranium for a strategic uranium reserve rather than importing it from Russia and its allies.
- Reform and streamline siting and regulations that delay or end vital energy infrastructure projects.
- Encourage the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission against erecting new barriers for natural gas pipelines approvals. “Making more American natural gas available to Europe, which you have endorsed, cannot happen absent additional infrastructure,” they wrote.
- Withdraw your executive order canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and approve existing and future cross-border oil and gas permits.
- Work with the nation’s European partners on developing the continent’s shale resources to help diversify energy supplies.
- Expedite the approval of domestic mines, including mines on federal lands, which would produce critical minerals and other import materials such as copper.
“We believe it is in America’s national interest… that you work like the moderate president you claim to be, reach across the aisle, and pursue with us the sensible and critical steps outlined above,” wrote the lawmakers.