House Oversight Chairman Comer Seeks Probe of Energy Secretary Granholm’s ‘Misuse’ of Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Committee Chair Comer says he despatched a letter to the Vitality Secretary after months of makes an attempt to safe her testimony at a scheduled listening to.
Home Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) despatched a letter on Wednesday to U.S. Dept. of Vitality Secretary Jennifer Granholm inviting her to testify earlier than the Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
“The Committee has held hearings with Division spending ranges, power effectivity requirements, vital minerals, and nuclear power,” Mr. Comer wrote. “The expansive nature of those subjects and your direct involvement because the chief of the Division necessitates your participation on this listening to.”
The letter goes on to say that the DOE has failed to supply Ms. Granholm’s availability to testify earlier than the Oversight Committee regardless of a number of scheduling makes an attempt along with her workers over the previous two months.
“My workers first conveyed to the Division my intention to ask you to a listening to in March by contacting your workers on January 23, 2024,” the letter continues.
The preliminary date proposed was March 6 however the letter says that Ms. Granholm’s workers declined, citing she wouldn’t be obtainable for the listening to.
“Two months have passed by since that first outreach. But, regardless of quite a few interactions between our staffs, the Division continues to fail to supply your availability for proposed listening to dates or particular particulars as to why you’ll be unavailable.”
The letter says that Mr. Comer’s workplace had provided Ms. Granholm extra listening to dates, together with April 30, Could 1, Could 15 or 16, and June 12 or 13, however the Vitality Division “has declined to supply your availability.”
“The Division has indicated to my workers that the Division will solely make the Deputy Secretary [David Turk] obtainable to testify on the proposed dates in Could or June,” wrote Mr. Comer.
He added that it’s “unacceptable” that the Vitality Division has been “unable to carry out a primary scheduling perform” relating to the supply of the division secretary.
“To keep away from any additional delay in scheduling this listening to, and to reiterate my invitation so that you can testify versus a subordinate official, I now write to you instantly to ask you to look,” the letter continued.
Ms. Granholm is requested to verify her look to testify and to submit written testimony not less than two enterprise days earlier than the listening to.
SPR at Lowest Degree in Many years
The SPR was established throughout the 1973-1974 oil embargo that disrupted oil imports and drove up oil costs.
Oil reserves are saved primarily in underground salt caverns alongside the Gulf Coast and Louisiana. These websites have the potential to retailer a whole bunch of tens of millions of barrels of crude oil.
Nonetheless, shortly after taking workplace, the president responded to rising gasoline costs after which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with probably the most aggressive drawdown on the SPR in historical past.
Over two and half years, the Biden administration launched 291 million barrels of the nation’s SPR, bringing the nation’s reserves to 347 million barrels—the bottom stage since 1983.
The Vitality Division has refilled a number of the reserves; the SPR at the moment sits at 362 million barrels, properly under its capability of 713 million barrels.
Some analysts worry that low stockpiles might put the nation in danger throughout an precise provide emergency, similar to a pure catastrophe or conflict.
“Within the meantime, with the reserve at its lowest stage in 40 years, the U.S. might be susceptible to grease worth shocks,” John Shages, former head of the SPR on the Vitality Division, informed Bloomberg in July 2023. “It additionally means throughout home provide crunches, the nation can be left on the mercy of worldwide exporters like Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the remainder of the OPEC+ cartel.”
LNG Pause Investigation
Earlier this month, the Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the DOE after the Biden administration introduced in January its order blocking new LNG export licenses, particularly between U.S. companies and non-Free Commerce Settlement international locations.
President Biden cited considerations concerning the U.N.-predicted “local weather disaster” and that the administration can be reevaluating the impacts of LNG exports on power prices, power safety, and the surroundings.
“At a time when conflict is ongoing in Ukraine, and tensions are rising within the Center East and Asia, it’s significantly vital that allied nations can depend on america for dependable, long-term gas provide,” they wrote.
The states have requested a U.S. District Court docket for the Western District of Louisiana to overturn the pause, arguing it’s illegal and raises “critical questions of nationwide safety,” in line with the courtroom paperwork.
Bryan Jung and Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.