The idea that President Joe Biden would ask foreign countries to increase oil production while blocking production in the United States is concerning, said a spokesman for the state’s oil and natural gas industry.
“That’s our biggest concern is the fact that here in the states, the president’s administration is doing everything it can to shut down production on federal lands and turning to foreign countries (for increased production),” said Ryan McConnaughey, communications director for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.
Biden on Wednesday called on members of OPEC to boost oil input to slow the rise in gasoline prices.
At the same time, the Biden administration is continuing its ban on the issuing of new oil and gas leases on federal land, a move being challenged in court by the governors of oil producing states and the nation’s oil industry.
The PAW, in a Twitter posting Wednesday, suggested Biden should be working with domestic producers to increase the domestic supply of oil for gasoline.
“Instead of asking adversaries in OPEC, like Russia, Venezuela and Iran, to increase supply, perhaps you should be working with Congress to unleash the energy development potential of America’s public lands and waters,” it said.
McConnaughey said the situation actually provides a chance for organizations like the PAW to teach policy makers that America’s oil producers can meet the demand for energy in an environmentally safe way.
“For us, it’s an opportunity to show just how out-of-touch the administration is with the resources that we have here in our own country and it’s up to us to educate them,” he said. “I think it’s our opportunity to show that we can be providing the oil and gas the country needs and using Americans to do it.”
