Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Wayne Christian on March 4 penned an open letter to President Joe Biden critiquing his failed energy agenda and providing solutions to the ongoing global energy crisis.
In the letter, he calls on Biden to immediately end all Russian oil imports to the United States, instruct international oil and gas companies cut ties with Russian operators, and to put an immediate end to anti-oil-and-gas rhetoric and policies so domestic producers have the regulatory certainty necessary to increase production here at home.
“From handing Afghanistan to the Taliban to destroying our American Energy Dominance, it is clear this administration cares more about appeasing radical left-wing activists than doing the right thing for the American people,” said Chairman Christian. “Putin’s Russia is an enemy actor who should be cut off completely—we don’t need their oil, gas, or anything else. It’s simple: NOW is the time to unleash American oil and gas production for the future of our allies and the safety of our nation.”
A lifelong conservative businessman, Wayne Christian was elected as Texas’ 50th Texas Railroad Commissioner in November 2016. Prior to his time at the Commission, Christian served seven sessions in the Texas House of Representatives, accumulating a strong record of standing for free markets and against burdensome regulations. Christian is married to his wife, Lisa, and together they have three daughters and five grandchildren. You can learn more about Chairman Christian here: https://rrc.texas.gov/About-
Below is the content of Christian’s letter:
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President of the United States, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 20502
President Biden,
I write concerning your administration’s misguided energy agenda and the detrimental impact it continues to have on the economic vitality and national security of this nation. Energy security is national security; that’s clearer than ever.
With Russia’s unjust war on Ukraine, the unstable international oil market, and runaway U.S. inflation, America must unleash our hardworking oil and natural gas producers. This will ensure energy security for the U.S. and our European allies, while lowering gasoline prices for consumers, decreasing the cost of the almost 6,000 consumer goods created with and transported by petroleum, and creating jobs and economic growth.
In your State of the Union (SOTU) address, I was extremely troubled that there was no mention of how domestic fossil fuel production could readily address the current market issues or the immediate energy crisis. Instead, the speech offered nonspecific promises of tax incentives for energy efficiencies and doubled down on growing intermittent, unreliable wind and solar electricity generation.
Since you took office, American taxpayers are seeing a 40-year high on inflation, a seven-year high on both oil and gas prices (up 40%), and a struggling supply chain with little hope in sight. A main cause to this economic indigestion is your administration’s energy policies which favor unreliable “green” energy power generation, mostly sourced from mass-polluting China, over the reliable fossil fuel sources of power generation that we can abundantly produce here at home.
With U.S. Energy prices up 27 percent and a growing global energy crisis, your administration’s solutions were to ask OPEC+ to produce more and release 50 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Neither of these actions have provided any long-term relief either at the pump or the electric bill. In fact, you doubled down on this strategy in your SOTU by announcing the release of more oil from the strategic oil reserve to mitigate high gas prices 4. This will only temporarily and moderately treat the symptoms of the problem, not provide a cure.
It doesn’t have to be this way. America became a net exporter of energy in 2019 for the first time in 67 years, surpassing Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the largest producer of oil and gas in the world 6.
This energy dominance gave us affordable energy, thousands of new jobs, economic growth, and national security. Our country achieved all this by simply harnessing our God-given natural resources here at home.
We need to be realistic and practical. The price of crude oil has skyrocketed, inflation is rampant, and the European continent is currently experiencing its first ground war since World War II. Internationally, countries and companies are divesting and boycotting from Putin’s Russia and looking to source locally and from allies; the U.S. shouldn’t be any different. We can and should be self-reliant—let’s source and buy American.
There are several immediate actions your administration can take to ensure energy relief for Americans and protect our European neighbors. First, immediately approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which could transport 830,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil a day. Two, remove all exporting restrictions on liquified natural gas (LNG), at $4 (per Thousand Cubic Feet) U.S. LNG is one of the world’s cheapest and could easily supplement Europe’s reliance on Russian gas. Three, renew oil and gas leasing of federal lands and waters, which is worth $700 billion to the U.S. economy and could reduce foreign oil imports by 2 million barrels a day. And four, cut off all Russian oil imports, as the U.S. imports 595,000 barrels per day from Russia—our third largest supplier.
As Chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas, I led the effort with my colleagues calling on all oil and gas producers to divest from Russia. I am proud some of the larger producers have heeded the call, but there is much more that needs to be done. As former Vice-Chair and active member of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), I will be calling on our 31 member states to join Texas in this stance against Putin’s unlawful war, demanding increased domestic oil and gas production and establishing a stronger national security through energy security.
As President, it’s simple: you should immediately end all Russian oil imports, demand international oil and gas companies do the same, and fulfill that supply gap with American and Texan made oil and gas. Now is the time for the future of our allies and the safety of our nation.
Sincerely,
Wayne Christian Chairman Railroad Commission of Texas