House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., told CNBC's Squawk Box Wednesday that President Joe Biden's energy agenda is the reason prices are skyrocketing across the board.
"This is the worst energy crisis since the 1970s, and it is because President Biden and the Democrats have shut down American energy production and jobs," Rodgers said. "American energy is foundational to everything in our lives and this administration just seems to be more interested in their own political agenda than what is best for hardworking American families."
"We should have never shut down the Keystone XL pipeline, yet that is what President Biden did on day one," she added.
The New York Post reports that Biden sent letters to major energy companies Wednesday, accusing them of not doing enough to bring down soaring gas prices and telling the seven oil refiners that their profit margins were "well above normal."
"At a time of war, refinery profit margins well above normal being passed directly onto American families are not acceptable," Biden wrote in a letter to Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods. "Your companies need to work with my Administration to bring forward concrete, near-term solutions that address the crisis and respect the critical equities of energy workers and fence-line communities."
The president then called on the refiner to describe "any reduction in your refining capacity since 2020 and any concrete ideas that would address the immediate inventory, price, and refining capacity issues in the coming months — including transportation measures to get refined product to market."
Similar letters were sent to the leaders of Chevron, Shell, Phillips 66, BP, Marathon and Valero, according to the Post.
On CNBC, Rodgers said that she had recently spoken with personnel at a refinery who told her how difficult it has been to get the required drilling permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
According to Bloomberg, the Biden administration has frequently pointed to the number of approved but untapped drilling permits on federal land when asked how U.S. production can rise, and what the federal government can do to help.
Mike Sommers, the CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, said the White House is "misusing the facts" to "advantage their position."
"There's a fundamental misunderstanding of the administration as to how the process actually works," Sommers told Bloomberg in March.
"Just because you have a lease doesn't mean there's actually oil and gas in that lease, and there has to be a lot of development that occurs between the leasing and then ultimately permitting for that acreage to be productive," he said.
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