On Wednesday, after the White House issued a statement urging a conglomerate of 23 oil-producing countries, led largely by Russia and Saudi Arabia, to increase oil production, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott fired off an open letter denouncing the Biden administration’s moves to inhibit oil production in the United States while begging abroad.
Abbott tweeted, “Dear White House: Texas can do this. Our producers can easily produce that oil if your Administration will just stay out of the way. Allow American workers—not OPEC—produce the oil that can reduce the price of gasoline. Don’t make us dependent on foreign sources of energy.”
Dear White House:
Texas can do this.
Our producers can easily produce that oil if your Administration will just stay out of the way.
Allow American workers—not OPEC—produce the oil that can reduce the price of gasoline.
Don’t make us dependent on foreign sources of energy. https://t.co/2YVOArh3Gf
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) August 12, 2021
The White House’s statement by national security advisor Jake Sullivan on Wednesday read:
Higher gasoline costs, if left unchecked, risk harming the ongoing global recovery. The price of crude oil has been higher than it was at the end of 2019, before the onset of the pandemic.
While OPEC+ recently agreed to production increases, these increases will not fully offset previous production cuts that OPEC+ imposed during the pandemic until well into 2022. At a critical moment in the global recovery, this is simply not enough.
President Biden has made clear that he wants Americans to have access to affordable and reliable energy, including at the pump. Although we are not a party to OPEC, the United States will always speak to international partners regarding issues of significance that affect our national economic and security affairs, in public and private. We are engaging with relevant OPEC+ members on the importance of competitive markets in setting prices. Competitive energy markets will ensure reliable and stable energy supplies, and OPEC+ must do more to support the recovery.
As The Daily Wire has noted, President Biden has taken steps to target the American oil industry:
As one of his first acts as president, Biden revoked a permit from the Keystone XL Pipeline project allowing the planned pipeline to cross over from Canada into the United States. Biden’s action effectively killed the pipeline, costing thousands of jobs. If completed, the pipeline would have shipped over 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
In June, Biden suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1002 area, a massive oil preserve located in Alaska. Former President Donald Trump finalized a plan to open the area to oil development in 2020 after decades of Alaskan officials lobbying the federal government.
In April, the Biden administration released its “Made In America” tax plan, in which it stated its intent to replace “fossil fuel subsidies with incentives for clean energy production,” adding, “provisions of the tax code shift our energy production away from cleaner alternatives, undermining long-term energy independence and the fight against climate change. Subsidized fossil fuels have also negatively impacted air and water quality in U.S. communities—especially in communities of color.”
The Wall Street Journal explained, “The fossil-fuel tax provisions most likely up for elimination are two deductions that help lower taxes for exploration-and-production companies. One is the intangible-drilling-cost deduction, which allows oil-and-gas producers to deduct most of the costs associated with finding and preparing wells. The second is something known as percentage over cost depletion, which also effectively helps oil-and-gas companies lower taxable income.”