Senator Barrasso Demands President Biden ‘Must End His War on American Energy’

In the wake of President Biden declaring that he will ban all Russian oil imports to America, many of Wyoming's leaders are pushing the President to once again utilize American oil resources instead of looking outside of the country.

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Senator John Barrasso is one of those people.

Barrasso, a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, released a statement calling on President Biden to "end his war on American Energy."

“President Biden is finally doing what members of Congress have been pushing for all along,” said Barrasso. “His decision to ban Russian oil is a much-needed step to kill Putin’s cash cow. We should not replace Russian oil with oil from dictators in Iran and Venezuela. The president must end his war on American energy."

Barrasso, as well as many other Republican Senators, have been calling on Biden to end his ban on federal oil & gas leasing. Biden first issued a suspension of approval for new oil & gas leases in January of 2021.

The order stated that it was "made for the purpose of implementing a targeted and time limited elevation of relevant decisions at the Department of the Interior (Department) for the purposes of reviewing the questions of fact, law, and policy they raise. This Order ensures that the Department continues its existing operations-including operations necessary for health, safety, and national security matters-consistent with all legal obligations and policy goals to uphold trust and treaty responsibility to tribal nations and to responsibly steward the Nation's public lands, waters, and resources for current and future generations."

Since then, it has been a hot-button issue for Republicans, citing rising gasoline prices among other consequences.

In February of 2022, the Bureau of Land Management failed to meet a deadline to issue a notice for competitive lease sales in the first quarter of 2022. Senator Cynthia Lummis accused the BLM and the Biden Administration of purposefully missing the deadline.

“'Misses' implies that it was an oversight, a mistake," Lummis said. "The Biden admin didn’t overlook this on their calendar. They made a conscious decision to continue to attack Wyoming and our domestic energy industry in favor of progressive, unrealistic climate policies while Americans continue to pay more at the pump and more to heat their homes."

Now that Biden has banned all Russian imports, Wyoming's leaders have demanded that he starts using American oil, instead of looking to other countries.

President Biden has made the right decision to ban the import of Russian oil, coal, and LNG as Russian President Putin wages a violent assault on the people of Ukraine," Congresswoman Liz Cheney said. "After banning the import of Russian energy, the United States should unleash domestic production so that we can be the world's energy arsenal, instead of allowing our adversaries like Iran or Venezuela to step into this void. We should authorize new leases and permits for oil and gas drilling on federal land and cease the development of new regulations that limit energy production. In Wyoming and across the country, we have the resources and capabilities to increase production so we can return to American energy independence, provide crucial resources for our allies around the world, and mitigate the higher gas prices and energy costs that hardworking families are facing. This is an economic and national security imperative."

Barrasso agrees.

"Republicans have been demanding the administration take the shackles off American energy producers since President Biden took office," he said. "That starts with holding new lease sales on federal lands and waters and issuing drilling permits. We have the energy at home and we must use it.”

Whether President Biden will take their advice or not remains to be seen.