Today, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Chairman Pat Fallon (R-Texas), Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources Chairman Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) led a letter raising concerns over the Biden administration’s ongoing efforts to obstruct American energy production and implement its climate agenda. To ensure Americans have access to clean, reliable, and affordable energy, the Republican lawmakers are calling on the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to provide information on their delay in issuing a five-year offshore leasing plan and the Department’s failure to fulfill its obligations to lease federal land for domestic oil and gas production. In part, the members wrote:

"The Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Natural Resources (jointly, the Committees) are conducting oversight of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s ongoing efforts to obstruct domestic energy production in service of extreme ideological goals. Specifically, the Committees are deeply concerned regarding the process for issuing offshore leases, a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) memorandum (memo) regarding the Cook Inlet Planning Area Lease Sale 258 (Lease Sale 258), DOI’s long delay in issuing the next five-year offshore leasing plan, and DOI’s failure to fulfill statutory obligations to lease federal land for oil and gas production...

"The memo and your actions in this matter illustrate the pressing need for oversight of DOI’s permitting review processes and the Biden Administration’s prioritization of its climate agenda above states’ revenue streams, economic development, and the energy security of all Americans. The internal deliberations at BOEM to brazenly elevate President Biden’s radical eco-agenda ahead of common-sense policies call for greater congressional oversight of DOI and BOEM. Under your leadership, DOI has leased acres for oil and gas production at the lowest rate of any presidential administration since the end of World War II. This is unacceptable. The lack of certainty has reduced investment in domestic oil and gas development, limited American energy production, and is driving oil and gasoline prices above the $2.39 per gallon they were when President Biden took office. The lack of leasing will have long-term impacts of exhausted producible acreage, increased reliability on foreign-sourced fuel, and jeopardized price stability for decades to come."

Additional signees: U.S. Reps. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Jerry Carl (R-Ala.), John Curtis (R-Utah), Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.), Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho), Garret Graves (R-La.), Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), Clay Higgins (R-La.), Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.), Jake LaTurner (R-Kan.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Jim Moylan (R-Guam) and Gary Palmer (R-Ala.).

Read the full letter here.