Energy and Commerce Committee Golds Subcommittee Hearing on Gardner bill

Press Release

Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Power held a hearing on the Strategic Energy Production Act, authored by Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO). The bill helps to achieve a long term, stable energy supply and lower the price of gasoline.

"Without lower gas prices, families and business will spend more of their income filling up the tank than investing in the economy," Gardner said. "The administration has suggested that tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is the way to bring down prices. While this may be politically expedient during an election year, it is difficult to argue with that fact that it is a one-time, short-term political fix to an enduring problem."

The SPR is intended to be used during times of severe supply disruptions like shutdowns or natural disasters. Gardner's bill would increase leases on federal lands for oil and gas production if the President acts to drawdown the SPR.

"If the President believes there is a supply shortage severe enough to warrant tapping our emergency oil reserves, we should do all we can to address it," Gardner said. "It is time we take proactive steps in promoting domestic energy production and stop playing politics with an issue as serious as this. We need real solutions not quick fix politics."

Robert Abbey, the Director for the Bureau of Land Management at the Department of the Interior agreed with Rep. Gardner in his assessment that leases for oil and gas production on federal lands are the lowest they have been since 1984.

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