Two top Republicans on energy, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY), blasted the Biden administration for “its political abuse and misuse of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.”
In a letter addressed to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce chairwoman and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ranking member detailed their opinion of how the Biden administration has “abused” the SPR for political purposes.
“We write with concerns about the Biden administration’s mismanagement of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR),” they wrote. “The SPR is a strategic national asset that is intended to be used in times of national emergencies, such as wars and natural disasters.”
President Joe Biden announced last week that it was releasing one million barrels of gasoline “to reduce prices at the pump” ahead of the Fourth of July. The White House announcement said the release from the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve builds on Biden’s “historic releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.”
The Department of Energy says the SPR was “established primarily to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products and to carry out obligations of the United States under the international