BISMARCK — Governor Doug Burgum released the following statement today after President Joe Biden announced plans to release more than 180 million barrels of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next six months.
“Once again, President Biden is relying on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and foreign nations to boost oil output when he should instead be working directly with U.S. oil companies and removing federal roadblocks to increase domestic production,” Burgum said. “Instead of demonizing U.S. oil producers and threatening to impose fees on them based on misleading data points about federal leases, the Biden administration needs to embrace a realistic long-term path to U.S. energy independence – one that sends a clear signal that his administration supports U.S. oil production and infrastructure so that capital investment will flow toward, instead of away from, energy producing states like North Dakota at the cutting edge of carbon capture technology. Today’s announcement does little to reduce prices at the pump, ease the burden on hardworking Americans, or unleash homegrown energy production with a mix of clean fossil fuels and renewables.”
"The Biden administration should also commit now to a plan to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with U.S.-produced oil and provide an immediate waiver to the Jones Act to reduce shipping costs and ensure that all U.S. refiners have access to the SPR releases," Burgum added.
Burgum recently invited President Biden to North Dakota to see firsthand the work of clean, efficient, domestic oil production and how carbon storage can play an immediate and significant role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
