Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) called on the Biden administration to ban imports of Russian oil and step up domestic energy production in a statement on Monday evening, a day before President Biden’s State of the Union address.
According to Manchin, the U.S. is importing “more than half a million barrels per day” of crude oil and petroleum from Russia while the Russian military is invading neighboring Ukraine.
“This makes no sense at all and represents a clear and present danger to our nation’s energy security,” said Manchin, who is the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The U.S. must “ramp up domestic energy production…to both protect our energy independence and support our allies around the globe.”
Manchin added, “I am calling on the Administration and industry partners to take action immediately, up to and including banning crude oil imports from Russia.”
President Biden moved to halt all new oil and gas production leases on federal lands after taking office in 2021, in an attempt to fight climate change. Biden also revoked a presidential permit for the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, leading developers to scrap the project in June.
Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) called to lift restrictions on oil and gas leases, in a Friday interview on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle. However, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said rescinding those policies would not be effective in comments to Fox on Tuesday.
“They are not policies that would address the issue at all,” Psaki said. “This Keystone pipeline—it would take years for that to have an impact on prices.”
Psaki claimed that “there are also 9,000 approved oil leases that companies are not tapping into.”
On Fox News, WH Press Sec. Jen Psaki rebuts Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on energy prices: "These are not policies that would address the issue… Keystone Pipeline, it would take years for that to have an impact… There are also 9,000 oil leases that companies are not tapping into." pic.twitter.com/t7Ituxv4wJ
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) March 1, 2022
The Biden administration’s ban on new oil and gas leases is currently the subject of a court battle. The administration said in a court filing on February 22 that it would delay all new oil and gas leases indefinitely while it finds a regulatory solution for new leases, in accordance with a February 11 court order.
Oil prices have risen sharply since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. Germany, a key importer of Russian natural gas, indefinitely suspended the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which has already been built and was intended to double natural gas imports.