“To be clear, this is about American energy independence and the fact that hard-working Americans should not depend on foreign actors, like OPEC+, for our energy security and instead focus on the real challenges facing our country’s future.”
On Tuesday, Senator Joe Manchin called on President Joe Biden to restore the Keystone XL pipeline, following Biden's announcement of a plan to release millions of barrels of oil from the nation's reserves to combat rising gas prices.
"I continue to call on President Biden to responsibly increase energy production here at home and to reverse course to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built which would have provided our country with up to 900,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada, one of our closest allies," said Manchin in a statement.
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View on Rumble"To be clear, this is about American energy independence and the fact that hard working Americans should not depend on foreign actors, like OPEC+, for our energy security and instead focus on the real challenges facing our country's future," he continued, referring to the group of major oil-producing countries.
Biden revoked a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline as part of his first wave of actions as president back in January. In February, Manchin reportedly called on Biden to rethink the cancellation, arguing that pipelines across the country "continue to be the safest mode to transport our oil and natural gas resources, and they support thousands of high-paying, American union jobs."
Manchin's statement comes the same day Biden announced plans to release 50 million barrels of oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a way to combat skyrocketing gas prices across the country, according to The Hill.
Manchin criticized this release of oil reserves, calling it a "Band-Aid" on a greater issue. "Today's release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is an important policy Band-Aid for rising gas prices but does not solve for the self-inflicted wound that shortsighted energy policy is having on our nation," said Manchin.
"With an energy transition underway across the country, it is critical that Washington does not jeopardize America's energy security in the near term and leave consumers vulnerable to rising prices," he continued.
"Historic inflation taxes and the lack of a comprehensive all-of-the-above energy policy pose a clear and present threat to American's economic and energy security that can no longer be ignored," he concluded.
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