The U.S. fossil fuel industry’s top lobbying group has called on the Biden administration to create policies that would encourage oil and gas companies to ramp up production.
The American Petroleum Institute says the federal government should create a more favorable climate for drilling and should streamline the permitting process for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals to expand so that the U.S. can rely less on oil imports and export more natural gas in liquid form to Europe, which relies heavily on Russia for fossil fuels.
“This shift away from Russia will not happen overnight, and we need to be clear about that,” said Dustin Meyer, vice president of natural gas markets at API. “But for it to happen at all, we need clear and consistent energy policy here in the US. Unfortunately, that’s not really what we have right now.”
A number of new LNG export terminals and several export terminal expansions have been proposed but are awaiting approval or permits from the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, with no clear timeline for decisions, he said.
Biden has been under pressure to rein in rising energy costs even if those moves run counter to his agenda for addressing climate change. On Tuesday he announced he is releasing 30 million barrels of oil from U.S. strategic reserves as part of a 31-nation effort to help ensure that supplies will not fall short after Russia’s invasion of its European neighbor.