As gas prices in the United States soar, a former Keystone XL pipeline worker named Neal Crabtree declared that the energy industry tried to warn US President Joe Biden, when his administration cancelled the pipeline in question, that it was also "canceling national security, foreign policy and energy," Fox News reports.
While Biden, who recently banned Russian oil and gas imports, blamed Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for rising gas prices in the United States, Crabtree told the media outlet that said issue goes beyond the current situation in Ukraine.
"Even if we can fix the Ukrainian problem, the prices are still going up," he said, adding that Biden’s policies “have everything to do with the rising fuel prices in this country today.”
He also addressed the remarks made by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki who said this week that “federal policies are not limiting the supplies of oil and gas" and that “there are 9,000 approved drilling permits that are not being used, so the suggestion that we are not allowing companies to drill is inaccurate.”
"There's no energy company [that's] gonna spend the money to develop a new lease if they can't build a pipeline to move the project," Crabtree said.
He also advocated for removing the Biden’s administration “foot off the throats of the energy companies” and to allow the latter “do what they do best."
"We're not saying don't build windmills or solar farms. Start building them, have fun," Crabtree told the media outlet. "But right now, this country runs on oil and gas, and it makes no sense for the Americans to suffer higher prices for it."