Hearing on Biden’s Dip Into Strategic Petroleum Reserves Becomes Debate on Race, Renewables

The House Oversight Subcommittee Hearing on the decision of President Joe Biden to draw down Strategic Petroleum Reserves was tense. Some committee members accused witnesses of being shills for oil and one member said he held white supremacist views.

The witnesses both denied having worked in the fossil fuel sector, while the witness charged with racism claimed that his fellow members of the committee had been lying.

Alex Epstein is president of The Center for Industrial Progress, and the author of “Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Gas—Not Less,” Rep. Cori (D-Mo. ) called it the accusation Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) made the accusation “a truly despicable and false attack.”

On March 8, the hearing was called “Burning the Midnight Oil: Why Depleting the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is not a Solution to America’s Energy Problem, Part I.”

The Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, Regulatory Affairs called it to order.

Republicans, which includes Chairman Rep. Pat Fallon from Texas (Republican), have stated that Biden is now the fourth president to access the reserve since 1975.

Operation Desert Storm was just beginning in 1991, and this marked the start of Operation Drawdown. Next came in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina ravaged much of the refinery capacity along the Gulf Coast. The third occurred in 2011, after problems in Libyan supply and in other countries.

Fallon claimed that Biden pulled more oil from the ground than any three other presidents and did not have legal grounds for withdrawing.

According to Fallon—on his first day in office Biden began following through on his promise to end the fossil fuel industry.

He cancelled the Keystone Pipeline and ended thousands of American jobs. He began to cancel drilling leases that were on public land.

The result was that gas prices went up by almost 3 cents per gallon from just $2.50 per gallon in Jan 2020 to close to $3.40 per gallon after Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, ordered that his military attack Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Fallon stated that gas prices hit a record high of $5 per gallon. Fallon stated that prices dropped after the drawdown but they remain at $2.76 per gallon (38 percent more than 2021).

“Forcing Americans struggling with out-of-control inflation to foot the bill for poor policy,” Fallon said.

Bush, who is the ranking member of the committee, disagreed with Fallon’s assessment. Biden was made to take extreme measures after Putin invaded Ukraine, she said. She claimed that Putin’s actions had destabilized global energy markets.

Bush said that Biden’s rapid action was a relief to the prices and made the situation an emergency.

She claimed that America’s excessive dependence on oil was contributing to the problems.

Bush also stated that polluting fossil fuels had an disproportionately negative impact “black and brown people.”

“The best way to avoid these challenges in the future is to end our reliance on oil,” She said.

Bush was harsh about Epstein and Ilia Bouchouev, two witnesses who were called to testify. Bush said Epstein and Ilia Bouchouev were both working for the oil sector and should not be believed.

Bouchouev said that he worked in a Koch brother company. Epstein claimed that he was also a consultant to several companies.

Bush accused Epstein also of having written a college paper that said Western culture is superior to Latin American and African cultures. Epstein said that he wrote the paper.

Epstein said that race does not have anything to do with Western culture’s superiority. Epstein stated that he was referring to the freedoms and security of Western culture.

Freedom for Everyone

“I want everyone around the world to have the same freedoms that I enjoy in America,” Epstein said. Epstein pointed out the fact that certain cultures practice female genital and mutilation.

“I thought that not having female genital mutilation was better than having female genital mutilation,” Epstein said.

Demond Drummer, of The Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy of The New School, New York, was the third witness who testified.

Biden had told him that America should follow his plan to move America away from dependence on crude oil and towards 100% renewable energy, such as solar or wind.

According to Drummer, energy prices continue rising which is why low income families are most affected. Drummer says that people with low incomes spend more money on transport and energy than the rest of society.

Drummer stated that America would become truly independent of oil by using renewable energy. This would allow the country to leave global oil markets. According to Drummer, once the infrastructure is established renewable energy will be possible. “most cost-effective” energy.

You can’t drill a way out

Drummer claimed that America can do little to affect energy prices because oil is traded globally.

“America can’t drill its way out of this,” Drummer stated.

Rep. Scott Perry (R.Penn. Drummer asked Drummer about how Biden would reduce gasoline prices using oil from its reserves, if America had no effect on the global market.

“The point is we can do something about [gas prices]. Clearly, we can,” Perry spoke.

Epstein disagreed with Drummer’s claim that renewable energy is not subject to international markets or any influence from other nations.

He noted that China is the largest producer of rare earth minerals and raw material for solar panels and other equipment to generate renewable energy.

His idea of America being energy-independent with renewables was a great one. “a proven fiction.”