CEI Leads Coalition in Support of H.R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act

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The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), joined by 13 conservative and free market-oriented organizations, sent a letter to Congress in support of H.R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act. The bill, sponsored by House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), would require any disruption of oil supplies leading to drawing down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve be accompanied by increased oil leasing on federal lands.

The signatories write:

We can continue making the Strategic Petroleum Reserve the nation’s sole response to future disruptions, or we can also utilize more of the vast oil supplies sitting beneath the lands and offshore areas currently kept off limits by the President. Relying on one without the other is a very shortsighted and self-defeating policy that the Strategic Production Response Act would fix.

For these reasons, we encourage you to support this important bill.

CEI is joined on the letter by 13 organizations, including: 60 Plus Association, ALEC Action, Americans for Tax Reform, America First Policy Institute, Energy & Environment Legal Institute, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

“President Biden insists that his decision to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has made a big difference in the price at the gas pump. That’s debatable, but one thing is clear – there is far more oil beneath the federal lands and offshore areas that he has kept off-limits to leasing,” said CEI senior fellow Ben Lieberman. “The Strategic Production Response Act would end this irrational approach and require that future drawdowns from the nation’s emergency stockpile be accompanied by more oil leasing.”

Read the full letter on CEI.org.

Text of the letter:

A Coalition Letter to Congress in Support of H. R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act

January 25, 2023

Dear Member of Congress:

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, write to express our strong support for H.R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act, sponsored by Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers. This commonsense bill would require that any disruption of oil supplies deemed serious enough to justify drawing down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve must also be accompanied by increased oil leasing on federal lands.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation’s emergency oil stockpile, is to be used when global supplies needed for the American market are disrupted, as President Biden has done in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But at the same time he is making this oil available, the President continues to oppose most new oil leasing on federal lands and offshore areas.

Granted, new leases require several years before the oil can be produced. However, opposition to a more robust leasing program on the part of some previous administrations is contributing to tight markets today. And, needless to say, the war in Ukraine is not going to be the last instance of turmoil involving one or more of the world’s major oil producers.

Making better use of the oil we can produce here in the U.S. would cushion the impact of future foreign supply disruptions. And the many thousands of well-paying oil industry jobs and lower prices for consumers–in peaceful as well as turbulent times–would be a substantial bonus.

We can continue making the Strategic Petroleum Reserve the nation’s sole response to future disruptions, or we can also utilize more of the vast oil supplies sitting beneath the lands and offshore areas currently kept off limits by the President. Relying on one without the other is a very shortsighted and self-defeating policy that the Strategic Production Response Act would fix.

For these reasons, we encourage you to support this important bill.

Sincerely,

Ben Lieberman, Senior Fellow
Myron Ebell, Director Center for Energy and Environment
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Saulius “Saul” Anuzis, President
James L. Martin, Founder and Chairman
60 Plus Association

Lisa Nelson, CEO
ALEC Action

Grover Norquist, President
Americans for Tax Reform

Rick Perry, Chair
Carla Sands, Vice Chair
Samuel Buchan, Director
Center for Energy and Environment
America First Policy Institute

Craig Richardson, President
Energy & Environment Legal Institute

Tom DeWeese, President
American Policy Center

Steven J. Allen, Vice Chairman
The Conservative Caucus

Thomas Sheahen, Chairman
Kenneth Haapala, President
Science and Environmental Policy Project

Donna Jackson, Director of Membership Development
Project 21 Black Leadership Network

Tom Harris, Executive Director
International Climate Science Coalition

Jason Isaac
Director, Life: Powered

Texas Public Policy Foundation
Brian Balfour, Senior Vice President of Research

Jon Sanders, Director, Center for Food, Power, and Life
John Locke Foundation

Isaac Orr, Policy Fellow
Center of the American Experiment

Benjamin Zycher, Senior Fellow
American Enterprise Institute (organization listed for identification purposes only)

Mark J. Carr
Channel Design Group