Washington, DC – ConservAmerica is pleased to announce the release of its latest report Powering America: Reforming the ESA to Recover Species and Build Infrastructure. This
ConservAmerica President Jeff Kupfer sent a letter to congressional leaders last week stressing the need for policies that support critical minerals development in the United States.
“The data makes clear that America has a deep, persistent, and dangerous reliance on overseas production and processing. This is largely a problem of our own making – one that can be addressed by reforming our national policy framework in support of mineral and energy resource development,” Kupfer wrote in the letter. “A shift in federal policy is essential and long overdue to solving America’s deepening dependence on foreign countries, particularly China, for minerals that are essential to our energy, economic, and national security interests.”
The letter and copies of the report were sent to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the Senate, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in the House.
Last year, President Joe Biden pledged that the U.S. would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent in ten years. As evidenced by the current situation in Ukraine, this policy emphasizes the urgent need to increase the development of safe, reliable, affordable, and clean energy supplies domestically. With this in mind, ConservAmerica today released a new white paper, “Strengthening America’s Mineral Security: Net Import Dependence, Supply Chain Vulnerability, and the Case for Critical Minerals.” This white paper examines U.S. federal policy and critical minerals supply, proposing a series of steps the government should take to reverse one of the nation’s most persistent and pervasive national security and economic challenges.
ConservAmerica President Jeff Kupfer appeared on Fox Business on March 8 to discuss Biden’s decision to ban Russian oil imports, making the case that it was the right move even if the administration was pushed into the decision but there is much more the U.S. should be doing to keep up with demand.
Former Acting Deputy Energy Secretary Jeff Kupfer, who served under former President George W. Bush, told FOX Business Tuesday that despite the fact he agrees with the ban on Russian oil, it still appears Biden was forced into the move.
“I think it was the right move. They ultimately in some way got pushed into it,” Kupfer said. “I mean, they weren’t necessarily supportive of it at first, but with the bipartisan pressure from the Hill, it sort of left them no choice but to do it.”
Fourteen years ago, as the head of a U.S. delegation at a time of sky-high energy prices, I met with a Middle Eastern oil minister in an effort to convince his nation to increase production. I have a distinct memory of him listening to my pitch, pausing for a few seconds and then looking me straight in the eye and saying, “I hear you, but what is your country doing to help the situation?” With U.S. energy prices on the rise, and with U.S. officials scrambling to cobble together gas supplies for Europe in case of a Russian attack on Ukraine, that question is just as relevant today.
Unfortunately, the answer is, not much. However you feel about natural gas (and oil), the reality is that it is a critical component of our energy system, and that it is here to stay for many years. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that U.S. consumption of natural gas will remain roughly unchanged in 2022 and 2023.
ConservAmerica sent a letter Monday to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (EPA) Michael S. Regan and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael L. Connor encouraging the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to suspend a rulemaking to redefine the scope of waters considered jurisdictional under the Clean Water Act (CWA) until the U.S. Supreme Court completes its consideration of Sackett v. EPA.
The case, which is on the docket for the Court’s next term, could have significant implications for EPA’s regulatory authorities under the CWA and the definition of “waters of the United States,” commonly referred to as WOTUS.