On the eve of President Joe Biden meeting with leaders of Saudi Arabia — and reportedly urging more oil production — America’s energy producers issued an invite of their own: Come meet with us.
The message is in a video message to the president released by the American Petroleum Institute on Thursday.
“Instead of meeting with foreign governments to ask them to increase energy production, look to reliable U.S. energy sources here at home,” says API’s president and CEO Mike Sommers in the video. “Join me and the men and women of America’s energy industry, from the fields of New Mexico and plains of North Dakota to the mountains of Pennsylvania and the bayous of Louisiana.”
As prices for gasoline, home heating oil, and other fuels have soared, representatives of the energy sector point to Biden’s aggressive actions against America’s domestic fossil fuel industry.
“We’re in a difficult moment for consumers in the United States and across the world,” Sommers said during a press conference at which the video was released. “Inflation is the highest it’s been in 40 years. Fuel prices have soared. Putin’s brutal aggression has united the West against his regime and the energy he once sold to Europe.”
As demand continues to outstrip supply, Sommers said there is a solution beneath our feet.
“Natural gas and oil are the foundation of our economy, supporting more than 11 million U.S. jobs and making our modern world possible,” said Sommers. “It has revived Main Street storefronts, restored U.S. manufacturing, driven job creation, bolstered our nation’s ability to compete, and has made America safer in a turbulent world.”
Instead of supporting American energy leadership and encouraging investment in American energy production, Biden is meeting with Saudi officials to reportedly ask OPEC to increase production.
“Saudi Arabia plays a key role in the global oil market and maintaining a constructive dialogue between our two nations is important, but if the administration is serious about increasing supply, it should be meeting with producers here at home instead of looking to governments overseas.”
API has invited Biden and his cabinet to visit America’s major oil and gas facilities. No one has yet to take API up on the invitation.
Among the organizations that joined in the video invite is the Marcellus Shale Coalition based in Pittsburgh. When Biden came to Pittsburgh earlier this year, the Coalition’s president David Callahan issued a public message to the president. “American natural gas is not only providing clean, safe, and reliable energy for the world while creating good-paying jobs – particularly among the building trades – but it’s also a source of much-needed security for our allies.”
Pennsylvania state Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Bradford), who chairs the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, told Delaware Valley Journal although he “applauded the intentions of this invite,” he thinks came from the wrong person.
“It’s very sad to me that the industry must make this overture to President Biden when it should come from Gov. Tom Wolf himself,” Yaw said. “Unfortunately, the Wolf administration refuses to acknowledge energy’s keystone role in our economy and environment. Instead, our governor remains in lock step with the president and others committed to stomping out fossil fuels, no matter how high the cost.
“Rather than go to the president to offer Pennsylvania’s resources to help ease economic pressures in the United States and Europe, we have joined the line of beggars for Saudi Arabian oil,” Yaw said.
Dan Eberhart, whose global oilfield services company operates Canary Wellhead in Charleroi, Pa. said he would like Biden to come and watch these energy professionals at work. His message?
“Mr. President, we have an opportunity to put America first and produce American energy, American jobs, American economic activity, and American security. All you have to do is seize this opportunity to make America great again.”
The White House, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm did not respond to requests to comment.
Like it or not, Sommers said oil and natural gas will be needed for decades to come, and the real question is where will consumers turn to meet rising energy demand.
“American energy producers are poised to meet the moment but we need a comprehensive energy policy that lays the foundation for long-term growth,” said Sommers. “The invitation to witness firsthand the immense potential of our nation’s oil and natural gas resources still stands and I’m hopeful the president will reconsider when he returns to the United States.”
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