The American Petroleum Institute (API) called on policymakers to confront the global mismatch between energy demand and available supply that has driven sent fuel prices soaring with the release of a 10-point policy plan.

“It’s time to lead,” API President and CEO Mike Sommers said in a release by the trade group on June 14 unveiling its “10 in 2022 plan.”

According to the release, Sommers highlighted the economic importance of American oil and natural gas resources in a letter to President Joe Biden. He also urged the administration to act immediately to implement the 10 policies proposed by API that support energy investment, create new access and keep government policies from unnecessarily restricting energy growth.

“These 10 in ’22 policies are a framework for new energy leadership for our nation, unleashing investment in America and creating new energy access while avoiding harmful government policies and duplicative regulation,” he said.

On a media conference call discussing the plan, Sommers also noted higher fuel prices and inflation hitting a 40-year record.

“It is all connected,” Sommers told reporters on the call on June 14.

Soaring fuel prices and record inflation are also expected to drive up U.S. gasoline by more than a dollar to $6 a gallon by August, according to a recent Reuters report.

That prospect has led to growing calls from Washington for windfall levies on the oil and gas industry, including a group of more than 30 lawmakers that recently urged a Congressional vote on a new oil tax. Even Biden on June 10 slammed oil companies, saying they are intentionally holding off drilling more to pump up oil and share prices.

“They’re buying back their own stock, which should be taxed, quite frankly,” Biden said.

In response to a question about the push for a windfall profits tax on oil and gas producers, Sommers said that would be a “really insane policy for policymakers to take at a time of energy scarcity.”

“We think this is a foolhardy policy,” he said of windfall levies adding that it would lead to the country importing more oil and producing less.

The policy plan unveiled by API on June 14, however, would help unlock American energy, fuel economic recovery and strengthen national security by supporting greater U.S. production and infrastructure.

The 10 actions that API said policymakers can take right now include: 

1. Lift Development Restrictions on Federal Lands and Waters 

The Department of the Interior (DOI) should swiftly issue a 5-year program for the Outer Continental Shelf and hold mandated quarterly onshore lease sales with equitable terms. DOI should reinstate canceled sales and valid leases on federal lands and waters.

2. Designate Critical Energy Infrastructure Projects 

Congress should authorize critical energy infrastructure projects to support the production, processing and delivery of energy. These projects would be of such concern to the national interest that they would be entitled to undergo a streamlined review and permitting process not to exceed one year.

3. Fix the NEPA Permitting Process 

The Biden administration should revise the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process by establishing agency uniformity in reviews, limiting reviews to two years, and reducing bureaucratic burdens placed on project proponents in terms of size and scope of application submissions.

4. Accelerate LNG Exports and Approve Pending LNG Applications 

Congress should amend the Natural Gas Act to streamline the Department of Energy (DOE) to a single approval process for all U.S. LNG projects. DOE should approve pending LNG applications to enable the U.S. to deliver reliable energy to our allies abroad.

5. Unlock Investment and Access to Capital 

The Securities and Exchange Commission should reconsider its overly burdensome and ineffective climate disclosure proposal and the Biden administration should ensure open capital markets where access is based upon individual company merit free from artificial constraints based on government-preferred investment allocations.

6. Dismantle Supply Chain Bottlenecks 

President Biden should rescind steel tariffs that remain on imports from U.S. allies as steel is a critical component of energy production, transportation, and refining. The Biden administration should accelerate efforts to relieve port congestion so that equipment necessary for energy development can be delivered and installed.

7. Advance Lower Carbon Energy Tax Provisions 

Congress should expand and extend Section 45Q tax credits for carbon capture, utilization, and storage development and create a new tax credit for hydrogen produced from all sources.

8. Protect Competition in the Use of Refining Technologies 

The Biden administration should ensure that future federal agency rulemakings continue to allow U.S. refineries to use the existing critical process technologies to produce the fuels needed for global energy markets.

9. End Permitting Obstruction on Natural Gas Projects 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should cease efforts to overstep its permitting authority under the Natural Gas Act and should adhere to traditional considerations of public needs as well as focus on direct impacts arising from the construction and operation of natural gas projects.

10. Advance the Energy Workforce of the Future 

Congress and the Biden administration should support the training and education of a diverse workforce through increased funding of work-based learning and advancement of STEM programs to nurture the skills necessary to construct and operate oil, natural gas and other energy infrastructure.

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