Administrations Plan to Open Strategic Petroleum Reserve Will Not Increase Certainty or Create Jobs
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. U.S. Congressman Bill Flores (R-Texas) released the following statement today in response to the Obama administrations announcement to release 30 million barrels of oil from the Nations Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR):
The Obama administrations surprise announcement to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an irresponsible and purely political move in response to the ongoing barrage of bad news regarding high energy prices and the weak economic recovery. The purpose of the SPR is intended for extreme situations in which our country faces a major supply disruption that would justify draining down our emergency reserves not for short-term political gain when the president is feeling heat over high gas prices. Tapping into the SPR shows that the Administration does in fact acknowledge that supply does matter.
The Obama administrations policy to block and delay American energy production by a string of drilling moratoria and permitting slowdowns is hurting middle-class families and businesses already struggling amid a fragile and uncertain economy. Every developed economy in the world looks to their own resources to fuel their economic growth yet this Administration views our domestic energy resources as a liability.
Raiding our Nations emergency reserves is not the solution we need. We have access to vast amounts of safe clean and efficient energy resources beneath our public lands and off our coasts that belong to the American taxpayers and currently sit idle. We simply need to allow the hardworking men and women in the energy industry to do their jobs. That is why House Republicans want to decrease Americas dependence on unstable Middle Eastern oil by pursuing an all-of-the-above energy plan that increases American production strengthens our national security lower energy prices and creates certainty in the economy and jobs here at home."
