America has 163 billion barrels of recoverable oil, which is enough to maintain our current levels of production and replace our imports from the Middle East for more than 50 years.
Washington, D.C.-Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) and a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), today commented on the Obama Administration's plan to release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
"President Obama's decision to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve due to unrest in Libya is curious to say the least," Senator Inhofe said. "The resources in the SPR are only meant to be tapped during national emergencies. Yet the President's justification for sidestepping Congressional authorization is that the operation in Libya is not a war effort but solely a humanitarian mission. Given the announcement today, are we to assume that the operation has changed course? The President needs to provide a full explanation for this."
