Exclusive — Oil Executive Rejects Joe Biden’s Blame: White House Is Slow-Walking Permits for Energy Development

Dan Eberhart, chief executive officer of Canary, an oilfield drilling and production services company, said on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday with host Joel Pollak that the Biden administration’s slow issuance of permits for oil resource development is a bottleneck restricting the oil and gas industry’s development.

The White House and its news media allies have blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for driving up the cost of oil and gasoline, going so far as to coin the term, “Putin’s price hike.” The Biden administration has denied its own role in driving up energy costs through its ostensibly “environmental” policies restricting domestic oil and gas development.

Pollak noted how President Joe Biden accused energy companies of immoral profiteering. He asked, “Is the industry just sitting on these leases and reaping big profits as is alleged by the White House? What’s really happening?

Eberhart replied, “The industry is sitting on nothing. I think that’s just some kind of Washington-speak.. … The leases are easy to get. What matters is the permits, and the permits have been coming out of the Biden administration slower than they were coming out during Trump by a lot.”

He continued, “Second of all, the industry is facing … problems other companies have all across the U.S. We don’t have enough labor. We can’t buy pickup trucks. I can’t get studs, nuts, bolts. Stuff from China is six weeks instead of three weeks. We have all the same kinds of issues facing us. And thirdly, the [Biden] administration’s got a moratorium on drilling on federal land. They’re not allowing pipelines — which given what’s going on with some clearing rules — makes it harder to drill in certain places.

“It’s death by a thousand cuts,” he concluded. “The [Biden] administration’s got really a chilling effect on us wanting to drill. They keep throwing wet blankets at us, but now, expect us to stand up and do more.”