John Kerry, who is the U.S. special presidential envoy for climate, stated at a recent event at the University of Southern California that the country does not need to put more effort into drilling for oil and gas as energy costs continue to rise.
The most obvious sign of the increase in energy costs has been at gas stations, where the national average now stands at $5.01 per gallon, but utility bills are also expected to increase this summer. Republicans in Congress have called for more domestic production to increase the supply of oil in order to reduce the cost.
"And energy security worry is driving a lot of the thoughts now about, 'Oh, we need more drilling, we need more drilling of this, we need to go back to coal.' No, we don’t. We absolutely don’t. And we have to prevent a false narrative from entering into this or, again, pun intended, we are cooked," Kerry said.
Biden Climate Czar John Kerry: “We absolutely don’t” need to drill for more oil and gas. pic.twitter.com/F6EA6JHIuG
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 14, 2022
Encouraged by the progress made in LA on accelerating climate action in the Americas. Together we can make faster progress on deploying clean energy, mobilizing climate finance, reducing deforestation, and enhancing adaptation and resilience as we head to #COP27 #SummitAmericas
— Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry (@ClimateEnvoy) June 10, 2022
In an attempt to lower gas prices, President Joe Biden has authorized 45 million more barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This is on top of the millions of barrels of oil that has already been released by the Biden administration.