U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today offered a somber critique of President Biden’s early energy policy actions, decrying the loss of jobs and policy shifts already taking place in the first weeks of the administration.
Hyde-Smith delivered a floor speech on energy policy Wednesday following the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee vote sending Energy Secretary-nominee Jennifer Granholm to the full Senate for consideration. Hyde-Smith did not support the nomination
“The early actions of the Biden administration are cause for concern and not a source of unity. They signal a troubling willingness to sacrifice strategic industries that are important to our economy and for the jobs they provide,” Hyde-Smith said.
“During a time in which America’s energy businesses are seeking recovery from this global pandemic, losing precious jobs that keep the lights on for constituents and feed their families cannot and should not be the route this administration takes,” she said.
Hyde-Smith cited the cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline and new oil and gas leases as examples of the administration’s willingness “to bring down fossil fuel resources,” which propelled the greatest energy independence for the United States in six decades.
She noted that “while my state may not be burned by the federal leasing ban as badly as Wyoming, New Mexico, and other western states, Mississippi will certainly feel the heat from this.”
To correct course, Hyde-Smith also advocated passage of two energy-related bills she cosponsored:
- The Conservation Funding Protection Act (S.69) to require annual lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico region of the Outer Continental Shelf; and
- The POWER Act (S.76) to prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing and permitting energy and minerals on certain federal land.
A copy of Hyde-Smith’s speech is available here.
Press Release
2/3/2021
