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WASHINGTON — Four Texas Democrats in Congress on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to rescind his moratorium on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, marking an early intraparty schism as the new president lays out his policy agenda.
The historical Jackson Ranch Cemetery in Pharr, Texas, is one of many properties that have been…
“We are deeply concerned about the implications of this … in the short-term given the impact of COVID-19 on local economies including the loss of jobs, increased budget shortfalls, & weakening of the US nat’l security as it pertains to American energy independence,” McAllen Rep. Vicente Gonzalez wrote on Twitter.
Gonzalez led the effort, which was joined by Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo, Lizzie Fletcher of Houston and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth.
“Now is not the time to jeopardize American jobs, or the critical tax and royalty revenues that federal leases generate for local, state, and federal government that need funds now,” the group wrote to Biden, while praising some the president’s other actions related to climate change.
Any such Democratic resistance, in Texas or elsewhere, is significant.
Environmentalists and many liberals have hailed Biden’s moratorium on new federal drilling permits, particularly amid the prospect that it could become permanent. Biden has pushed the issue as part of a broader effort, saying that “we’ve already waited too long to deal with the climate crisis.”
But Republicans and industry groups in fossil fuel-rich states like Texas have blasted the approach.
While Texas doesn’t have much federal land to speak of compared to, say, New Mexico and other southwestern and western states, the energy industry’s outsize role in the Texas economy means that the development has not gone without notice.
“Biden’s efforts to ban new oil/gas permits on fed lands/waters is a direct attack on working families & will completely devastate America’s energy independence,” Rep. Brian Babin, R-Woodville, wrote on Twitter, echoing the views of many other Texas Republicans.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, on Wednesday sought to highlight the wedge between Biden and the four Texas Democrats.
“Thank you to these Texas Democrats,” he wrote on Twitter, spotlighting the letter by Cuellar, Fletcher, Gonzalez and Veasey. “There is now bipartisan support for energy jobs, against the radical pseudo-environmentalism of the Biden-Harris administration.
The debate mirrors the one that played out in the latter stages of the 2020 White House race, when then-President Donald Trump sought to put Biden on the defensive over energy policy.
Republicans, even at this early stage of the 2022 election cycle, are again seeking to score political points on the issue. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a House GOP super PAC, in recent days poked at swing-district Democrats like Fletcher and Gonzalez over where they stood.
Calvin Moore, a Congressional Leadership Fund spokesman, on Wednesday made a point to highlight the fact that Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, didn’t join his colleagues’ letter.
“It’s truly sad that Texas families can’t even trust Colin Allred to sign a pre-written letter asking Joe Biden to protect their jobs in the middle of an unparalleled economic crisis,” said Moore, whose group has sought to defeat Allred in past election cycles.
An Allred spokesperson, criticizing “hyper-partisan attacks” by “dark-money super PACs,” said the congressman’s “record in Congress is clear: He will always do what’s best for North Texas and will work with anyone to deliver for his constituents.”