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BATON ROUGE, LA – U.S. Congressman Garret Graves issued the following statement after visiting the Bayou Choctaw Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) with U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

“Touring the strategic oil reserve site (SPR) today reinforces the key role that Louisiana plays in our nation’s energy security and I appreciate the opportunity to join the secretary. The briefing today also highlighted the millions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas offshore Louisiana that are being blocked by President Biden and contributing to record gas prices. The SPR was not established to mitigate for bad energy policy. It is designed to be used for natural disasters and historical events like the 1970’s OPEC oil embargo against the United States.

“I had the opportunity to discuss these flawed policy decisions with the secretary.

“Americans are being forced to decide among the false choices of buying groceries, paying electricity bills or fueling their vehicles. Just as we predicted on January 27^th of last year, the record energy prices we are seeing today are 100 percent the fault of failed energy policies of this White House. No one needed a crystal ball to see this happening.

“Our families are suffering, and the Department of Energy needed to hear the critical truth about the reality of the situation. Without honest conversations and using facts and data to inform decisions, we will see a continuance of these incoherent and irrational energy policies. I appreciated the opportunity to have a very candid discussion with the secretary and will continue to push Louisiana’s and America’s energy resources over those of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. What we are seeing today just doesn’t make sense and the greatest pain is to those that can least afford it.”