A group of 25 Republican governors called on Joe Biden to prioritize U.S. oil and gas production and restore American energy independence.
“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,” North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum 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,” he continued.
As reported by Just the News, the governors argue that North Dakota can produce enough crude oil to offset dependence on Russian imports, but the Biden administration is prohibiting it from doing so.
Indeed, North Dakota produces more than 1.13 million barrels of crude oil 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 group of governors in their joint statement called on Biden “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,” they argued.
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.
