[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 157 (Wednesday, September 28, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H8128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CONCERNS ABOUT OUR STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, as Hurricane Ian barrels toward the Florida 
coast, residents are boarding up their homes, packing up their 
families, and rushing to evacuate.
  Across the State, FEMA is unloading barrels of fuel from our 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve on evacuation routes to help those leaving 
to fuel up. That is the correct intent of our Strategic Petroleum 
Reserves, to help people in the event of a severe weather event or 
other disaster.
  But there is reason to be concerned now that the SPR, as it is known, 
is now at its lowest point since 1984 because of President Biden's 
policy. For nearly 2 years he has been halting leases for domestic oil 
and gas production, paused pipeline development, and launched a 
regulatory assault on U.S. energy development and financing, all while 
releasing our strategic reserves in order to combat rising prices--
thinking that amount is really going to do so. They have been shipped 
overseas in some cases.
  This is unconscionable. We are in the middle of a hurricane season. 
What will we do when our reserves are eventually depleted and people 
are actually stranded?
  In my district in northern California we don't have hurricanes, but 
we are too familiar with natural disasters. Each summer residents are 
forced to flee due to catastrophic wildfires, and this winter they were 
even trapped in their homes without electricity due to snowstorms.
  We need plentiful electricity: natural gas and oil. It is a matter of 
life and death for many, and SPRs need to be used properly.

                          ____________________