WASHINGTON, D.C. — At a recent press conference with his Senate Republican colleagues, Senator John Hoeven outlined the impact of inflation on American families across all sectors of the economy, and the need to produce more energy in the U.S. in order to combat rising prices. The senator highlighted how increased energy costs are driving prices higher for all goods and services and are particularly affecting agriculture producers, with the costs being passed down to consumers through the entire food supply.
Accordingly, Hoeven recently introduced legislation that takes immediate action to increase U.S. energy production. This would not only bring down inflation, but also support America and its allies in reducing their reliance on adversaries like Russia, Iran and Venezuela.
“Inflation is now at 7.9 percent, a 40-year high. This goes back to what we’ve been talking about for weeks – the underlying price of energy,” said Hoeven. “Our farmers are out there every day producing the food, fuel and fiber that make America work. One of their biggest costs is energy, from fueling their equipment to the fertilizer they put on their fields.
“It’s not just the administration putting handcuffs on our ability to produce oil and gas, it’s also the war on coal. Coming from a state that is huge in both agriculture and energy, really a powerhouse for the nation, we’re seeing the negative impacts of President Biden’s policies. For example, we produce tremendous amounts of oil and natural gas. However, because we can’t get the permits for the gathering systems that are needed to get natural gas to market, in some cases we end up flaring it, which makes no sense.
“We also have a plant in North Dakota that converts coal to natural gas and then uses it to make fertilizer, like urea and anhydrous. That means we don’t need to buy fertilizer from Indonesia, we are making it right here at home.
“The costs that go into energy production, whether it’s for coal, oil or natural gas, are driving up costs in everything we do. The Biden administration needs to change course on its policies for energy production.”
