Dozens of leaders of the U.S. oil and gas industry endorsed a newly introduced Republican energy bill as a "welcome answer" to Biden administration policies and recent Democrat-backed legislation, which they argued has crippled American energy production.
Twenty-five oil and natural gas trade associations on Tuesday sent a letter obtained by Fox News Digital to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., expressing their support for the Lower Energy Costs Act, which is denoted as H.R. 1 in the House and therefore the top-line agenda item for Republicans this Congress.
Scalise introduced the bill in the House last week, and Sen. John Kennedy, a fellow Louisiana Republican, followed suit with a companion Senate bill on Wednesday.
"The bill is a welcome answer to government-imposed distortions to energy markets that have decimated the energy independence that America enjoyed just a few short years ago," the oil and gas trade associations wrote in their letter.
The groups explained that they "wholeheartedly believe in producing energy in an environmentally responsible manner" and are "proud" that American oil and natural gas are developed under the world's most protective standards.
"However, the red tape we have experienced over the past few years is not intended to protect the environment but to handcuff American oil and natural gas production in a misguided attempt to quickly transition to an alternative reality that does not exist," the letter continued. "The result is higher prices for all Americans and more imports from unfriendly countries."
President Biden infamously promised to "end" and "get rid of" fossil fuels while campaigning for president. Since entering the White House, he's said his goal is to create a "carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050."
Biden has also committed by 2030 to cut U.S. fossil fuel emissions by 52% in favor of renewable energy and for half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric.
In his State of the Union address earlier this month, Biden said the country is "still going to need oil and gas for a while" before adding, "We're going to need oil for at least another decade and beyond."
Meanwhile, the president has been criticized by experts and energy insiders for showing "outright hostility" to the U.S. oil industry by turning to foreign countries — including adversaries — to supply America's energy needs rather than domestic producers.
"For too long, the government has interfered with energy markets, burdening American production with undue restrictions, distorting markets with wasteful government spending, and discouraging private sector production," oil and gas leaders wrote in their letter. "Biden administration actions and the Inflation Reduction Act have enacted further red tape, higher costs, and permitting obstacles that serve as barriers to efficient and timely production in response to national and global demand."
The Inflation Reduction Act is a massive Democrat-backed spending package signed into law last year that includes billions of dollars in climate initiatives.
"As a result," the letter continued, "American oil and natural gas producers have been hindered from producing up to three million barrels of oil a day, a government-imposed scarcity that has created high costs for citizens and instability in relation to our adversaries in China and Russia."
The Biden administration's policies have caused the U.S. to produce significantly less oil and gas during Biden's presidency than it would have during a second term for former President Donald Trump, according to a recent analysis by economists Stephen Moore and Casey Mulligan.
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Specifically, the analysis found the U.S. would be producing between two and three million more barrels of oil a day and between 20 and 25 more billion cubic feet of natural gas under Trump's policies, costing the U.S. economy about $100 billion a year.
Scalise had portrayed his bill as a way to combat Biden's energy agenda.
"When Joe Biden became president, he declared war on American energy," Scalise told Fox News Digital earlier this week. "Day one, killing the Keystone Pipeline, making it very difficult to get permits, canceling lease sales, and all of that drove up the cost of energy dramatically."
The bill is "focused on making more energy in America so we don't have to be dependent on foreign countries for our oil and natural gas," said Scalise. "And especially to lower costs for families who are struggling under the weight of President Biden's radical, anti-American energy agenda."
This week's industry letter praised Congress for tackling the issue of energy in a "comprehensive way." H.R. 1 is the sum of about 20 separate bills addressing various energy-related matters.
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Scalise told Fox News Digital that the bill will lower costs by "streamlining the permit process" and creating a "one-stop shop for energy infrastructure like pipelines, which are very difficult to get approved right now, so that you can build more of the pipelines to move energy throughout America." He added that building more pipelines will cut down on America's reliance on foreign tanker transportation for oil and lower costs for American families.
In a press release from Wednesday, Kennedy listed several specific changes that the Lower Energy Costs Act would make, such as repealing certain regulations and reworking revenue-sharing arrangements between energy-producing states.
According to the oil and gas industry leaders, the legislation would both "provide sustainable climate change solutions" and "restore certainty in federal on- and offshore production."
The Biden administration has come under fire for recently correcting the current number of approved but unused applications for permits to drill for fossil fuels from about 9,000 down to less than 6,700 after repeatedly citing the old figure for the past year.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment for this story.
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