{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-sullivan-and-colleagues-demand-administration-end-its-war-on-us-oil-and-gas", "Murkowski, Sullivan, and Colleagues Demand Administration End Its War on U.S. Oil & Gas", "2022-10-03", "2022", "2022-10", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Lisa Murkowski", "M001153", "www.murkowski.senate.gov", "murkowski", "https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/press-releases?PageNum_rs=28", "scraper", "U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (both R-AK) joined nineteen of their Republican Senate colleagues, in a letter led by U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), to demand the Biden administration end its assault on domestic oil and gas production and continue to sell oil and gas leases on federal land and water. The push comes in response to the U.S. Department of the Interior\u2019s draft proposal for the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, in which the department hinted that it might cancel future lease sales for the next five years.\n\n\u201cAmerican families are struggling to keep up with rising costs due to inflation, high energy prices, and persistent supply chain issues,\u201d wrote the senators. \u201cIt is our obligation to do everything within our power to help ease these burdens and remove this uncertainty for both Americans and our allies.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne of the most effective ways we can do this is to increase future domestic oil and natural gas production through long-term leasing certainty,\u201d continued the senators. \u201cThe Department can help domestic energy production and put American energy consumers first.\u201d\n\nIn addition to Cassidy, Murkowski, and Sullivan, the following signed onto the letter: U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Jim Risch (R-ID), Roger Wicker (R-MS), John Cornyn (R-TX), John Kennedy (R-LA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Braun (R-IN), James Lankford (R-OK), John Hoeven (R-ND), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Mike Crapo (R-ID).\n\nRead the full letter here or below:\n\nDear Secretary Haaland:\n\nWe are writing regarding your July 1, 2022, release of the \u201cProposed Program\u201d for the Interior Department\u2019s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. While the release of a \u201cProposed Program,\u201d after months of delay, is a step in the right direction, we are concerned by the Department\u2019s suggestion that a no lease option is a possibility for the final program. Further, failure to conduct any lease sales which encourage bidding could, as the Department says, cause increased air emissions from substitute production, primarily from overseas imports. We are also closely monitoring efforts by the administration to halt lease sales or to make lease sales economically unattractive in order to discourage bidding.\n\nAmerican families are struggling to keep up with rising costs due to inflation, high energy prices, and persistent supply chain issues. In addition, local businesses that are part of the ecosystem of U.S. energy production are being confronted with decisions that impact their employees and employees\u2019 families due to uncertainty about future natural resource development. Also, our allies in Europe are facing an energy crisis forcing the closure of manufacturing businesses and impacting supply chains which also leads to inflationary pressures throughout their economy. It is our obligation to do everything within our power to help ease these burdens and remove this uncertainty for both Americans and our allies.\n\nOne of the most effective ways we can do this is to increase future domestic oil and natural gas production through long-term leasing certainty. That is why we are encouraging 10 lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one lease sale in the Cook Inlet in the next five-year offshore leasing program.\n\nThe Department can help domestic energy production and put American energy consumers first. While the Department has awarded leases to the high bidders in Lease Sale 257, the Department should also 1) conduct the three congressionally mandated offshore lease sales with economically competitive terms and robust acreage that will attract significant industry interest; and 2) offer quarterly lease sales with desirable acreage across federal lands. Finalizing the five-year program with a commitment to semi-annual area-wide lease sales will also be a big step for American energy security and demonstrate to the American people the administration is serious about actions that can contribute to lower energy costs.\n\nWe appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to seeing the release of the Final National OCS Program for 2023-2028.\n\n###\n\nRelated Issues: Energy", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:34:28Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-sullivan-and-colleagues-demand-administration-end-its-war-on-us-oil-and-gas"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.898644095286727, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}