Mon, January 23, 2023
By Steve Holland, Timothy Gardner and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden will veto a bill by U.S. House of Representatives Republicans on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) if it passes Congress, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Monday.
In a letter last week, Granholm warned Republicans that limiting the Democratic president's authority to tap the nation's oil reserves would undermine national security, cause crude oil shortages, and raise gasoline prices.
"He will not allow the American people to suffer because of the backwards agenda that House Republicans are advancing" Granholm, speaking to reporters at a White House briefing, said of Biden.
The bill, called HR21, would prohibit the energy secretary from tapping the SPR without producing a plan to increase oil and gas leasing on federal lands - unless the release is for a severe oil supply emergency.
The House, which Republicans control by a narrow margin, is expected to vote on the bill as soon as this week. The legislation would face an uphill battle in the Senate, controlled by Democrats.
Republican lawmakers say they are concerned that last year's releases from the SPR, the biggest amount of crude oil from any president, have deteriorated the ability to store, pipe and pump oil at the SPR, which holds crude across series of underground natural caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
"We would like to curtail use of the SPR for only those situations where there's a severe supply interruption," a Republican aide to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce told reporters.
Biden tapped the SPR repeatedly last year in response to oil prices that jumped due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and as travel increased while the COVID-19 pandemic eased.
Biden announced last March a record 180 million-barrel sale over six months that drove the reserve's level to its lowest since late 1983.
The Energy Department this month rejected the first batch of bids from oil companies to resupply a small amount of crude to the SPR.
Despite that rejection, Granholm said she is confident the United States will be able to refill the SPR and save taxpayers money by buying oil at a lower price than the government originally purchased the supplies.
“The offers that we received did not meet specification or price,” the secretary said. She said the administration would soon announce how it will buy back some initial replenishment oil for the reserve.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Nandita Bose and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Marguerita Choy)
Biden administration threatens veto of GOP bill restricting strategic oil reserve releases
Rachel Frazin
Mon, January 23, 2023
The Biden administration is threatening to veto Republican-led legislation that would restrict the release of oil from the country’s emergency reserve.
“If Congress were to pass H.R. 21, the president would veto it. He will not allow the American people to suffer because of the backwards agenda that House Republicans are advancing,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters during a White House press briefing.
The legislation would require the federal government to develop a plan to increase the percentage of federal lands leased for new oil and gas production in order to withdraw oil from the strategic reserve. It includes an exception for “severe energy supply” interruptions.
House Republicans are slated to take up the bill this week.
The Energy secretary said on Monday that the bill would “needlessly aim to weaken the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s [SPR] usefulness as a tool to ensure energy security in America.”
She added that it “risks raising these gas prices and making it harder to offer Americans relief in the future.”
In response to similar criticism from Granholm last week, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), pointed to the exception for emergencies.
“If the President declares an emergency resulting from an energy supply disruption, the Secretary has full authority to utilize the SPR—HR 21 will not change or hamper that,” Rodgers said in a written statement, adding that the legislation “simply addresses the politically-motivated use of the SPR.”
Last year, in response to fuel price spikes following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Biden announced the largest-ever release of oil from the U.S.’s strategic reserve.
The move faced backlash from Republicans, who argued that it was political and used it to critique the administration’s energy policies.
In defense of its move, which it called an appropriate use of the reserve, the Biden administration has pointed to a Treasury Department analysis that found the move, in coordination with similar ones from other countries, reduced the price of gasoline by between 17 and 42 cents per gallon.
By Steve Holland, Timothy Gardner and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden will veto a bill by U.S. House of Representatives Republicans on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) if it passes Congress, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Monday.
In a letter last week, Granholm warned Republicans that limiting the Democratic president's authority to tap the nation's oil reserves would undermine national security, cause crude oil shortages, and raise gasoline prices.
"He will not allow the American people to suffer because of the backwards agenda that House Republicans are advancing" Granholm, speaking to reporters at a White House briefing, said of Biden.
The bill, called HR21, would prohibit the energy secretary from tapping the SPR without producing a plan to increase oil and gas leasing on federal lands - unless the release is for a severe oil supply emergency.
The House, which Republicans control by a narrow margin, is expected to vote on the bill as soon as this week. The legislation would face an uphill battle in the Senate, controlled by Democrats.
Republican lawmakers say they are concerned that last year's releases from the SPR, the biggest amount of crude oil from any president, have deteriorated the ability to store, pipe and pump oil at the SPR, which holds crude across series of underground natural caverns on the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
"We would like to curtail use of the SPR for only those situations where there's a severe supply interruption," a Republican aide to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce told reporters.
Biden tapped the SPR repeatedly last year in response to oil prices that jumped due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and as travel increased while the COVID-19 pandemic eased.
Biden announced last March a record 180 million-barrel sale over six months that drove the reserve's level to its lowest since late 1983.
The Energy Department this month rejected the first batch of bids from oil companies to resupply a small amount of crude to the SPR.
Despite that rejection, Granholm said she is confident the United States will be able to refill the SPR and save taxpayers money by buying oil at a lower price than the government originally purchased the supplies.
“The offers that we received did not meet specification or price,” the secretary said. She said the administration would soon announce how it will buy back some initial replenishment oil for the reserve.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Nandita Bose and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Marguerita Choy)
Biden administration threatens veto of GOP bill restricting strategic oil reserve releases
Rachel Frazin
Mon, January 23, 2023
The Biden administration is threatening to veto Republican-led legislation that would restrict the release of oil from the country’s emergency reserve.
“If Congress were to pass H.R. 21, the president would veto it. He will not allow the American people to suffer because of the backwards agenda that House Republicans are advancing,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters during a White House press briefing.
The legislation would require the federal government to develop a plan to increase the percentage of federal lands leased for new oil and gas production in order to withdraw oil from the strategic reserve. It includes an exception for “severe energy supply” interruptions.
House Republicans are slated to take up the bill this week.
The Energy secretary said on Monday that the bill would “needlessly aim to weaken the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s [SPR] usefulness as a tool to ensure energy security in America.”
She added that it “risks raising these gas prices and making it harder to offer Americans relief in the future.”
In response to similar criticism from Granholm last week, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), pointed to the exception for emergencies.
“If the President declares an emergency resulting from an energy supply disruption, the Secretary has full authority to utilize the SPR—HR 21 will not change or hamper that,” Rodgers said in a written statement, adding that the legislation “simply addresses the politically-motivated use of the SPR.”
Last year, in response to fuel price spikes following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Biden announced the largest-ever release of oil from the U.S.’s strategic reserve.
The move faced backlash from Republicans, who argued that it was political and used it to critique the administration’s energy policies.
In defense of its move, which it called an appropriate use of the reserve, the Biden administration has pointed to a Treasury Department analysis that found the move, in coordination with similar ones from other countries, reduced the price of gasoline by between 17 and 42 cents per gallon.
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