Committee leaders call on Secretary to “ensure that the SPR is not abused for political purposes in this election year, as it was in 2022”

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, sent a letter to the Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, following reports that the Biden administration is preparing to further drain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The letter calls on the Secretary to safeguard the SPR and stop using it to provide political cover for President Biden in an election year.

KEY LETTER EXCERPTS:

“Under President Biden, the SPR has reached its lowest level since 1983. The DOE has overseen the largest sale in history, amounting to a total of 290 million barrels. When President Biden took office in January 2021, the SPR contained 638 million barrels of oil. Today, the SPR currently contains 367 million barrels of oil, which represents nearly a 42 percent decline from when President Biden took office.”

[…]

“Under the Biden administration, the SPR has been abused for political purposes to try and bring down record high gasoline prices that are driving record high inflation that are a consequence of the administration’s radical rush to “green” energy policies.  In November of 2021, the Biden administration announced a release, in coordination with China, in an attempt to lower prices. Then in March of 2022, the president announced the release of 180 million barrels of oil from the SPR in the middle of an election year, a transparent attempt to influence the midterm elections and distract from the Biden administration’s energy policy failures.”

[…]

“We urge you, in the strongest terms, to put this country’s energy security first and stop abusing the SPR for political purposes. As the Secretary of Energy, it is your responsibility to ensure that the SPR is ready to respond to true energy supply disruptions.”

CLICK HERE to read the full letter.

CLICK HERE to read Ranking Member Barrasso and Chair Rodger’s letter in November 2022 detailing the damage from President Biden’s SPR drawdowns.