earlier this month, Rep. Raúl Grijalva noted that the U.S. oil and gas industry"already controls at least 26 million acres of public land and is sitting on more than 9,000 approved drilling permits they're not using."
"With the facts laid bare, we see the fossil fuel industry's crocodile tears for what they are—the same old demands for cheaper leases and looser regulations they've been peddling for decades," Grijalva wrote."These pleas have nothing to do with countering [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's invasion or stabilizing gas prices, and everything to do with making oil and gas development as easy and profitable as possible.
Janessa Goldbeck, a Marine Corps veteran and CEO of the Vet Voice Foundation, expressed a similar view in a statement on Monday, declaring that"extraordinary profits and deceptive spin are just more of the same from oil and gas CEOs who have for decades jacked up prices at the expense of consumers, all while demanding more government giveaways and minimizing the role of fossil fuels in heating the planet.
"Veterans and military families are not going to stand by while oil and gas companies exploit a crisis to plunder more of our nation's public lands," said Goldbeck."Today, we are calling them out on their greed and calling on America to move quickly towards a clean energy future."