KAMR-TV Amarillo, Texas
Oklahoma Senator joins legislation aimed at prioritizing American energy production
By David Gay
WASHINGTON D.C. (KAMR/KCIT) — Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, along with other Republican members of the United States Senate, came together Friday to introduce a piece of legislation aimed to prioritize American energy production.
According to the release, Lankford, along with Republican senators John Barrasso, Steve Daines, Jim Risch, Mike Lee, Lisa Murkowski, John Hoeven, Bill Cassidy, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Roger Marshall and Kevin Cramer introduced the Strategic Production Response (SPR) act.
The act prohibits the Secretary of Energy from accessing the country’s strategic petroleum reserve for reasons other than a “severe energy supply interruption” until the Secretary of the Interior “issues a plan to increase oil and gas production on federal lands and waters,” the release states.
“It’s ridiculous that Biden would try to ‘cancel’ traditional energy production here at home and then propose using our emergency reserves of oil when Oklahomans start to feel the pain of Biden’s energy-killing policies at the pump,” Lankford said in the release. “Our bill, which requires the government to have a plan to increase energy production on public lands if they want to release any oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, ensures the federal government can’t just beg OPEC, Russia, and others for foreign oil while holding back domestic energy production. This is yet another moment we will stand up against Biden putting his climate-change agenda over American jobs and energy needs.”