The White House on Sunday outright rejected the possibility of increasing domestic oil production to combat the ongoing energy crisis.
At the time of this reporting, crude oil prices have risen as high as $130 per barrel.
What are the details?
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Sunday argued against the idea of increasing domestic oil production.
“It’s a reminder that real energy security comes from reducing our dependence on fossil fuels,” Psaki said and then hit out at those pushing to increase domestic output.
She continued, “[D]omestic production has not insulated us from the price volatility of fossil fuels or the whims of those who control them, such as President Putin. Americans know that.”
She added that the only way to avoid spiking oil prices was to become dependent on other sources of energy, including wind and solar panels.
“The only way to protect U.S. over the long term is to become energy independent,” she insisted.
What else?
Last week, Psaki said that calls to enhance domestic oil production are a “misdiagnosis.”
“The way that the president, President Biden, has approached sanctions is we want to take every step to maximize the impact and the consequences on President Putin while minimizing the impact on the American people and the global community,” Psaki said.
She added that calls to lift restrictions on oil drilling on federal land and demands to reopen the Keystone Pipeline were nothing more than a “misdiagnosis” of a solution.
“The Keystone Pipeline was not processing oil through the system. That does not solve any problems,” she insisted. “That’s a misdiagnosis or maybe a misdiagnosis of what needs to happen. I would also note that on oil leases, what this actually justifies in President Biden’s view is the fact that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, on oil in general … and we need to look at other ways of having energy in our country and others.”