Biden ‘Regulatory Smurfing’ Mires Oil, Gas Industry in Red Tape, Industry Leaders Say

Field hearing before all-Texas assembly of congressional Republicans criticizes administration’s ‘whole-of-government attack’ in forced green energy transition.

President Joe Biden hands a pen to House Nancy Pelosi (2nd L), alongside other members of the House, after signing a bill dealing with greenhouse gas emissions, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in Washington, on June 30, 2021. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

The Biden administration’s “whole-of-government attack” in forcing a disruptive “green energy” transition is imposing higher consumer prices, costing jobs, and fostering investment uncertainty, oil and gas industry operators said during an April 23 congressional field hearing.

The administration is “deploying a series of interlocking rule-makings, spread across time and different agencies, to thwart straightforward legal challenges and maximize its regulatory agenda’s chances of success,” Denver-based Liberty Energy President Ron Gusek said, referring to the administration’s strategy as “regulatory smurfing.”