Earlier in May, two Republicans had asked a congressional watchdog to analyze the current government’s management of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the SPR. The other demand was for assessing its modernization program.
The SPR is a U.S. government complex of 4 deep underground storage cavern sites built in salt domes along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana.
Initiated by the U.S. government nearly five decades ago, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is intended to protect the economy and enhance national security during a significant oil supply disruption.
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Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, head of the House energy committee, and Senator John Barrasso are the people involved here.
The Department of Energy (DoE) should be assessed to manage the reserve.
“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 and Russia to use energy as a geopolitical weapon,” wrote the Republicans to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
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Republicans fear the SPR sale may have caused structural damage to pipelines and caves, which could threaten the company’s ability to fulfill its energy security mission if supplies are disrupted. I said it does.
The Biden administration had clarified that sales haven’t caused any apparent damage to the SPR.