Exclusive — Rep. Guy Reschenthaler: Biden’s ‘War on American Energy’ Defeating His Goal of Ending European ‘Dependence’ on Russian Energy

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) told Breitbart News that President Joe Biden’s “war on American energy” has harmed Biden’s own goal of ending European dependence on Russian energy.

“Joe Biden’s war on American energy benefits Russia, China, and Iran — at the expense of the United States. The president’s deliberate actions attacking domestic energy production and halting new LNG exports do nothing but put our allies into the hands of our foreign adversaries and further endangers our national security,” Reschenthaler, the chief deputy whip for House Republicans, told Breitbart News in a written statement.

The Pennsylvania lawmaker spoke to Breitbart News as the Financial Times reported that Russia has eclipsed the United States as the lead supplier of natural gas to Europe despite the continent’s efforts to wean itself off of Russian energy.

Following the advent of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Russia started dramatically cutting pipeline gas to Europe. As a result, Europe has increased imports of natural gas from other regions. Subsequently, the United States overtook Russia as the lead supplier of gas to Europe in September 2022, and since 2023, American gas amounted to about a fifth of the region’s supply of natural gas.

Russia’s status as the lead supplier of natural gas follows President Joe Biden promising in March 2022 to end Europe’s reliance on Russian energy after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

He said during a speech in Poland:

First, Europe must end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels.  And we, the United States, will help.  (Applause.)  That’s why just yesterday, in Brussels, I announced a plan with the President of the European Commission to get Europe through the immediate energy crisis.

Over the long term, as a matter of economic security and national security and for the survivability of the planet, we all need to move as quickly as possible to clean, renewable energy.  And we’ll work together to help get that done so that the days of any nation being subject to the whims of a tyrant for its energy needs are over. They must end. They must end.

The Biden administration has enacted many others major environmental policies that could also have stifled America’s energy production. These include:

• Raising royalty rates for fossil fuel companies to pull oil, coal, and gas from public lands
• Increasing by ten times the amount of bonds companies need to secure before they start drilling
• Requiring existing coal plants in the United States to reduce 90 percent of their greenhouse emissions by 2039; this is seen as a “death knell” by coal plants.
• Requiring high-capacity power plants that burn natural gas to reduce their emissions by 90 percent by 2032

Reschenthaler continued, “America is blessed with a vast array of natural resources — including right here in my home state of Pennsylvania. The White House should be utilizing them to restore our nation’s energy independence and support our European friends. The only thing standing in the way is Joe Biden.”