There is plenty of evidence that the Biden administration is not in touch with America’s energy needs. Does the United States have a compelling need to seek energy guidance from the People’s Republic of China (PRC)? Well, it was recently reported that Joe Biden’s energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, after taking office in 2021, thought it wise to consult her PRC counterparts on the plundering of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The release of America's oil stockpiles began in earnest as the administration started selling millions of barrels – seemingly for political purposes – in an attempt to drive down the skyrocketing gasoline prices caused by Biden and Granholm's policies.
In an exclusive story by Fox News, the American public learned for the first time that:
“Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm engaged in multiple conversations with the Chinese government’s top energy official days before the Biden administration announced it would tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to combat high gas prices in 2021. Granholm’s previously-undisclosed talks with China National Energy Administration Chairman Zhang Jianhua — revealed in internal Energy Department calendars obtained by Americans for Public Trust (APT) and shared with Fox News Digital — reveal that the Biden administration likely discussed its plans to release oil from the SPR with China before its public announcement.”
Secret Talks With China on Climate?
According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the consultation was outreach to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for advice on the DOE’s efforts to deal with climate change. Of course, it was. “We must all address the transnational challenge of climate change to our planet,” a DOE public affairs spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Naturally, the first country that comes to mind to consult on how the United States should reduce its carbon footprint would be the world’s largest builder of coal-fired power plants. So, it seems perfectly reasonable that after chatting up China National Energy Administration Chairman Zhang on climate change, two days later, Granholm would elect to draw down US oil reserves to the tune of 50 million barrels – reported at the time to be the largest release in history.
The story unsurprisingly caught the attention of Republican lawmakers. “Before telling the American people of their plans to undermine our energy security by draining the SPR at record rates for political purposes before the midterm elections, Secretary Granholm reportedly first secretly consulted with the Chinese Communist Party,” House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) said in a press statement. “Since then, DOE —under her leadership — has sold millions of barrels of oil from our SPR to China — the world’s biggest polluter. It would appear Secretary Granholm meant it when she said America should ‘learn’ from what China is doing.”
Does Rodgers mean that the clandestine conversations with the CCP had nothing to do with the weather?
Energy Secretary Behind SPR Mismanagement
Did the SPR draw-down benefit Americans at the pump? No. As Liberty Nation's economics editor, Andrew Moran, predicted at the time, the move barely made a dent in rising gas prices: "Unfortunately, it will only exacerbate the problem in the long run and eventually add to the energy crisis ... the measure will artificially lower prices. This will result in escalating demand and tightening supplies. Moreover, manipulated lower prices will discourage production and exploration among large and small oil and gas firms, enhancing the deficit in international markets." LN later reported that one major beneficiary of the US selling off its oil had been – you guessed it – China, which bought up a "considerable portion of America’s rainy-day fund."
Was this outcome chance, or were the two nations' energy officials in cahoots? According to at least one senior lawmaker, the latter is far more likely. “The Biden administration secretly colluded with the Chinese Communist Party to help lower energy prices in China while hardworking American taxpayers were left to pay more at the pump here at home. They always put America last,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) tweeted.
Jennifer Granholm (Photo by Chris Saucedo/Getty Images for SXSW)
A Political Crisis Is Not an Emergency
This supply is supposed to be used only in national emergencies. That’s why it’s called the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But, belatedly, Congress is on to the caper and has put the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the trail of DOE’s politically motivated misuse of America’s vital petroleum stockpile.
In a May 2023 letter to US Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Chairman Rodgers requested the DOE evaluate the supervision of the SPR and make an audit of SPR’s modernization program. “DOE’s mismanagement of the SPR has undermined America’s energy security, leaving the nation more vulnerable to energy supply disruptions and increasing the ability for OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and Russia to use energy as a geopolitical weapon,” the letter reads.
The SPR is the world’s largest stockpile of emergency crude oil. It was established to “reduce the impact of disruptions” in energy for Americans -- not as a tool for political agendas. Furthermore, does the Biden team need to consult with its number one geopolitical threat on how to manage US energy? It makes one wonder on what other critical national security policies the White House seeks Beijing’s direction.
