President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass a sweeping “use it or lose it” provision intended to prevent oil and gas drillers from sitting indefinitely on federal leases without producing, part of his plan for lowering gas prices that also includes a massive release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Speaking to reporters at the White House Thursday, Biden asked lawmakers to pass legislation that would either force companies to either start producing oil and gas on pre-approved federal lands or start paying fees for each well and unused acre.
In his remarks, Biden noted that the U.S. oil and gas industry is “sitting on nearly 9,000 unused-but-approved permits” for production on federal land.
Under the proposed legislation, “companies that are producing from their leased acres and existing wells will not face higher fees,” the White House said in a fact sheet released ahead of his remarks. “But companies that continue to sit on non-producing acres will have to choose whether to start producing or pay a fee for each idled well and unused acre.”
“Look, I’m a capitalist,” Biden said Thursday. “I have no problem with corporations turning a good profit. But companies have an obligation that goes beyond just their shareholders to their customers, their communities, and their country.”
“No American company should take advantage of a pandemic or Vladimir Putin’s actions to enrich themselves at the expense of American families,” he added.
A number of Democrats have already indicated support for the plan, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who threw her support behind the effort during a recent press briefing.
OIL PRICES SLIDE AS BIDEN WEIGHS HUGE RELEASE FROM STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE
“We want to say there are 6,000 permits out there where people could drill, where industry could drill, so they don’t need to be upending our initiatives to save the planet from the climate crisis,” Pelosi told reporters earlier this month.
“If they want to drill, they have places to drill,” she added. “Use it or lose it — let somebody else drill there.”
The industry has said that existing law already puts pressure on companies to use wells before they are returned to the government and that they lose money for hoarding acreage.
The news comes as part of a broader administration effort to reduce pain at the gas pump, with national averages climbing this month past $4 a gallon for the first time since 2008. Biden is facing intense criticism from Republicans, who have blamed his environmental policy agenda for higher prices, as well as declining approval ratings.
As part of that plan, Biden also ordered the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from the strategic petroleum reserve for the next six months. “The scale of this release is unprecedented: The world has never had a release of oil reserves at this 1 million per day rate for this length of time,” the White House said. “This record release will provide a historic amount of supply to serve as a bridge until the end of the year when domestic production ramps up.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The strategic reserve release ordered by Biden is the largest ever since its creation in 1974. It’s also not the first time Biden has tapped the reserves as president. Last fall, the administration authorized the release of 50 million barrels from the strategic reserve in November, and in March, it joined other countries and released 30 million gallons amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
