||| FROM THE OFFICE OF REP. RICK LARSEN |||
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) voiced his support for the U.S. ban on imports of Russian oil, gas and other energy products. In 2021, Russian oil accounted for 8.2% of U.S. imports and 3.5% of U.S. consumption.
“I support a ban on imports of Russian oil and gas to continue to increase economic pressure on Russia’s autocratic regime,” said Larsen. “At the same time, my House colleagues and I are working on legislation to further isolate Russia from the global economy. The United States will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to respond to Putin’s unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine.”
Larsen also outlined steps the U.S. is taking to alleviate the burden of rising gas prices on Northwest Washington consumers. Since the start of Putin’s war on Ukraine, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline rose by $0.53 in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett and Anacortes-Mount Vernon metro areas and by $0.50 in the Bellingham metro area.
“I understand my constituents are feeling Putin’s price hike at the pump. I will continue to support meaningful actions to relieve the financial burden on consumers and, in the long term, push to reduce U.S. reliance on international and domestic oil production and invest in affordable clean energy alternatives.”
Larsen outlined several steps the U.S. is taking to ease the financial burden on consumers, as well as efforts he supports to boost domestic investments in clean energy:
- The Biden administration already announced it is releasing more than 90 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve this fiscal year. The U.S. and 30 International Energy Agency member countries recently announced the release of 60 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
- The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently announced U.S. crude oil and gas production is approaching record-high levels.
- The total number of active drilling rigs in the U.S. is 38% higher than the total number in January 2021.
- Canadian oil companies continue to export a record amount of crude oil from the Gulf Coast.
- Larsen supported several initiatives included in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to build a cleaner and greener nationwide transportation network. He also supports historic investments in electric vehicle manufacturing and infrastructure, incentives for utilities to switch to cleaner power generation, and the establishment of tax credits for green aviation fuels and electric vehicles.
Larsen is a strong supporter of U.S. actions and the efforts of allies and partners to impose financial sanctions to hold Putin accountable for his war on Ukraine. Last week, Larsen released a statement in support of continued efforts to hold Putin accountable, including the Biden administration’s announcement to block Russian aircraft from U.S. airspace. He recently stood in solidarity with members of Washington’s Ukrainian community and hundreds of supporters at Seattle Center.
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All the points listed are useless. Go back to exactly the way it was before the Potted Plant took office and we were energy independent.
Isn’t it amazing that US oil is bad and imported foreign oil is good? The height of idiocy.
High oil prices got your attention, well good. It seems to me that the push for green energy is going to fast and too far. Green energy is a great objective for sure, but it should be done correctly. The current oil crisis gives us a good measure of our country’s energy situation and where this green energy push has taken us. The drop in Russian oil supplies on the world market has us paying record prices for energy. The impact of that drop in oil supplies on the US is the result of poor political decisions. It is not “Putin’s price increase” by any means..
Why not have Canadian crude (syncrude) flowing through US markets? The US would get first access to the oil if necessary. The Keystone XL pipeline would be transporting more crude to the US than the US buys from Russia. This project was cancelled so now Canadian crude will flow to the world via their west coast. A poor decision that has made us more vulnerable to foreign oil disruption. And the oil will be burned regardless, so no CO2 benefit was achieved.
Why not have public lands (that are not environmentally critical) open to drilling? If the demand for oil increases or the supply of oil is disrupted, the US could increase drilling and over time make up for shortages.
Why not take a carefully and fully thought out approach to shifting to green energy? There a many sides to getting this change made successfully. Banning all fossil fuels by a certain date likely will not happen and it distorts the market. Switching to EV’s will only increase the demand for more fossil fuel generation to supply the electric grid (EV’s do not run on hydropower). Adding solar and wind is great but this reduces system reliability. That reliability must be made up from other sources, likely fossil.
We can make this shift successfully if we move carefully; only as far and only as quickly as necessary. Representative Larsen’s article seems to me to be from a political talking piece that ignores the real nature of our energy problems, misses the real situation that we find ourselves and takes no responsibility for the problem.. Hopefully more thought will be put into Representative Larsen’s votes on energy issues.