Letter to Jospeh R. Biden, President of the United States - Sens. Kelly, Manchin Urge Biden Administration to Boost Domestic Energy Production Amid Rising Gas Prices

Letter

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to urge you to develop and implement a new Five-Year Program for oil
and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico without delay.

Americans are facing record-level gasoline prices every day when they commute to work,
drive their children to school, and buy groceries and medicine. The additional disruptions in the
oil market caused by Russia's illegal war in Ukraine could drive prices up even further. We
support your decision to coordinate a release of crude oil from the emergency reserves of
International Energy Agency members but believe more must be done to provide relief to
Americans facing rising costs for everything from gas to groceries. Increasing domestic oil
production to meet demand is a critical step to lowering gas prices and reducing our reliance on
foreign sources.

A new Five-Year Program is needed to establish a schedule for oil and gas lease sales in
the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and west Florida.
 The program should be flexible for responding to high gasoline prices now and in the future and
enable the United States to become more energy independent to meet emerging geopolitical
threats.  This plan should also provide for the protection of marine life and the environment, and
ensure drilling operations are conducted safely and responsibly. In the meantime, the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management and the National Marine Fisheries Service must continue timely
processing of permits and plans for existing leases. Delays to seismic permitting present a
serious risk to bringing additional offshore production online in the near term while the FiveYear Program is being developed. 

Advancing Gulf production does not mean our nation must abandon its climate
goals. The Gulf of Mexico is among the lowest greenhouse gas-emission-intensity oil
production sites in the world and would offset foreign imports that are shipped across
oceans. When the Obama administration created the current 2017-2022 Program, they found
that GHG emissions "could, in fact, increase slightly in the absence of new OCS leasing."
Allowing energy projects to languish in court or remain suspended in years of bureaucratic limbo
is not addressing the pain at the pump or the climate crisis. The United States can and should
increase its renewable energy production and lower its greenhouse gas emissions, but this must
occur responsibly, pragmatically, and through an all-of-the-above energy approach that takes
advantage of our resources at home.   

Sincerely,

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