Cheney Criticizes Biden’s Energy Policy at Congressional Forum
Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney spoke at a forum hosted by the Congressional Western Caucus and House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
During the forum, Cheney discussed President Joe Biden's energy policies and Wyoming's economy.
Cheney said there are steps that the Biden administration has taken that have been detrimental to energy production in the U.S.
"It’s really, as you all have been discussing, a devastating situation, particularly for us in Wyoming where we’re first in natural gas production on federal lands, second in federal oil production," Cheney said. "The millions of dollars that we’re seeing already in lost revenues, the fact that we’re seeing some of the producers say they’re going to indefinitely pause their operations on federal lands. And we know that this is very much an effort by the Biden Administration to end completely, I think, to end fossil fuels. They are beginning this process by ending leasing and production on federal lands every possible way they can. And it’s really unfortunate that we’ve found ourselves in a situation where, you know, the things that we all have been saying that we knew would happen, sadly, are happening...I've introduced legislation, for example, that would prohibit bans on oil and gas leasing on public lands, that would maintain royalty rates at 12.5%."
When Biden took office, he signed an executive order that banned new oil and gas sales on federal land.
That order was paused by a federal judge in June while the actual case makes its way through the courts.
While the order prevented companies from getting new leases for oil and gas on federal lands, it didn't prevent those companies from using existing leases, which, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office, from 2014 to 2019, there were 9,950 approved but unused permits to drill on federal land.
Cheney said the policies by the Biden administration when it comes to pipeline production at home and abroad do not make sense.
"I think what you all are doing in terms of helping to educate the public about the benefits of American fossil fuels, as you've said, they’re the cleanest in the world," Cheney said. "And certainly, you know, when you look at what we're dealing with now, in terms of Russia, on the verge of invading Ukraine, and the fact that we've, you know, now the Biden Administration has given the go-ahead for Nord Stream 2 but is preventing us from developing and continuing to build our own pipelines here at home just makes no sense at all."
Over the past 30 years, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased slightly overall, going from 6,442.65 million metric tons in 1990, up to a high of 7,449.62 million metric tons in 2007, down to 6,558.35 million metric tons in 2019.