West Texas Congressman August Pfluger, R-San Angelo, last week called for Congress in 2026 to prioritize the appropriation of funds to fully replenish the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve. Pfluger, writing in the Odessa American, said the SPR is “the cornerstone of American energy security and treating it as the proactive national security asset it was created to be is long overdue… Refilling it now should not be reduced to a partisan fight.”
The strategic petroleum reserve was created by Congress after the oil crisis of the 1970s as the nation’s “insurance policy against global supply disruptions.” But at its current level of 409 million barrels, Pfluger said, SPR is at its lowest level since its inception (less than 60 percent of its capacity). The depletion stems largely from a drawdown of 290 million barrels in 2022 by the Biden administration to stabilize gasoline prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He also said that “the structural integrity of the salt caverns (in Texas and Louisiana) that protect the remaining barrels is at serious risk.”
Pfluger added Jan. 3, “If we are serious about reestablishing America’s energy dominance, then refilling the rest must be a top priority for Republicans in 2026.”
Pfluger, 48, is an U.S. Air Force veteran and three-term Congressman who represents Texas District 11 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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