March 1, 2022

President Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania, Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Biden,

In view of both inflation-related domestic cost impacts and global market shocks stemming from the invasion of Ukraine, it is more apparent than ever before that the United States must reestablish and permanently maintain its energy independence. Domestic energy production, distribution, and supply must serve as a measurable pillar of U.S. national security. From traditional energy sources to renewables, this will require leveraging America’s vast and diverse array of resources and technologies across the U.S. energy spectrum.

Recent price spikes here at home and abroad have made it abundantly clear that this objective should no longer serve as a loosely held goal subject to varying political priorities, but rather an objective national imperative. Accordingly, U.S. policymakers, government officials, and private sector innovators can and should work collectively to make U.S. energy independence a permanent domestic requirement from both an economic and national security perspective.

Over the last decade, U.S. innovations led to unprecedented breakthroughs across all energy sectors and for a brief period time our nation achieved energy independence. In an even briefer period of time, however, we lost it and we are now paying skyrocketing energy prices and suffering global instability as a result. Existing and new innovations must now be leveraged even further, but they can only be successful if the right public policy choices are made, and unnecessary obstacles are removed at the federal, state, and local levels. Doing so would lead to a return to U.S. energy independence, greater cost efficiencies, and environmental benefits for American employers, communities, families, and consumers.

Looking abroad, we must recognize that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing attempt to invade and occupy Ukraine is being enabled by two primary catalysts: unnecessarily high global energy  prices and Europe’s reliance on Russian energy exports. The rapid inflationary rise in oil and natural gas prices have undoubtably given Russia vast sums with which to finance Putin’s military ambitions. In tandem, Europe’s increasing and misguided dependence on energy imports from Russia provided him considerable political and economic leverage. This dynamic must change.

Our European allies must reassess the wisdom of being dependent on Russia or any other questionable foreign suppliers. Otherwise, the threat of Putin using energy exports to blackmail European nations and threaten the NATO alliance will remain. To address these issues, the U.S. must now incentivize and help expedite greater investments in America’s energy export capabilities and Europe’s own energy diversification. Doing so will serve as a catalyst for both domestic economic growth here at home and to ensure greater global supplies of diverse energy to our allies during times of crises and normalcy.

This includes offering our European and Asian allies cheap, clean, and affordable energy in the immediate days and months ahead. An increase in American energy exports will help drive down global energy prices and help deny Russia and other rogue regimes the wherewithal to support their illegal activities now and in the future. 

Over the next several weeks, we hope to bring together key subject matter experts, policy leaders, and industry stakeholders to produce and present a number of immediate and near-term policy and regulatory solutions to help reestablish our nation’s energy independence and support our allies. We invite members of your team to join this effort.

Our goal is not to dwell on poor policy choices of the past, but rather to help elected and other government officials make the right ones based on economic realities, national security, technological feasibility, and environmental safety moving forward. Our initial approach should not be dissimilar to that of Operation Warp Speed (OWS), which mobilized U.S. innovators, manufacturers, and other frontline industries in discovering a vaccine for COVID-19 in record time. 

Much like OWS, this effort will look at what legislative, regulatory, and legal obstacles stand in the way of our objectives, and then propose policy solutions to immediately alter, enhance, or remove them as needed to be successful in meeting our domestic and international goals related to energy security. We believe this process, and the reestablishment of U.S. energy independence, will lead to both immediate and long-term improvements in alleviating current price shocks and mitigate future global crises.

We are sincere in our desire to work with your Administration in making this mission-critical goal a reality and look forward to engaging with members of your team as this critical initiative progresses in the near future.

Sincerely,