Russia-Ukraine war is a ‘wake-up call’ for US energy policy
Oil and gas industry insiders say the crisis shows fossil fuels are still needed in the near term
Energy industry reps criticize Biden administration, say Russia-Ukraine war highlights need to produce more American energy
Energy industry reps criticize Biden administration, say Russia-Ukraine war highlights need to produce more American energy.
Oil and gas prices have been climbing over the past year and surged further following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine last month.
Now, energy costs are poised to climb even higher after President Biden banned Russian oil and gas imports to the U.S., and industry experts say the situation should serve as a reality check that fossil fuels are still needed as the White House pushes transitioning to a green economy in the near future.
"I think it is a wake-up call," American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers told FOX Business. "I think everyone should be concerned about what our energy security looks like going forward."
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. (Photographer: Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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"We as a country have been an energy leader for over a decade, but we can revert back to being an energy follower very quickly if we make the wrong policy choices," Sommers continued, adding, "Unfortunately, this administration has been making the wrong policy choices, and they've been focused on hampering American energy development rather than developing American energy development."
"This energy crisis is decades in the making, and what it shows is that we are going to need fossil fuels for decades to come," American Exploration and Production Council CEO Anne Bradbury said. "And even under the [International Energy Agency's] sustainable development scenario, the world is still going to use oil and gas for decades to come – and it's huge in a significant amount."
Oil pump jacks are seen next to a strawberry field in Oxnard, California February 24, 2015. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson) (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson / Reuters Photos)
"Oil and gas produced in the United States is produced under the highest standards of anywhere in the world," she continued. "And what this demonstrates is that we need U.S. produced oil and gas not just for our national security and not just for our economic security, but we're also going to need it to support a lower carbon future."
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"Look, the president's own Energy Information Agency has said this transition is going to take decades. Decades, and that's the best case scenario," Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, told FOX Business. "So if we know from our own experts that we're gonna need oil and gas – and trust me, I'm an all-of-the-above energy guy.... If we know that this transition is going to take decades, why wouldn't we want to produce the oil and gas in America the world needs for decades from our own resources? The answer is we should."
Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, speaks during the 2022 CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Monday, March 7, 2022. (Photographer: F. Carter Smith/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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"The American people have woken up to this, I think, to question," Sullivan said. "The Ukrainian war has really highlighted the need to produce more American energy and not be reliant on dictators – and this administration still refuses to do it."
FOX Business' Tyler Olson contributed to this report.