Energy industry representatives pushed back on a comment from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Monday regarding unused oil and gas leases, accusing the Biden administration spokesperson of misleading Americans with a "red herring."
"This represents a fundamental misunderstanding as to how this process works," American Petroleum Institute (API) president and CEO Mike Sommers told FOX Business when asked about Psaki's comments. "Once you lease land there is a whole process that you have to go through. First you have to actually discover whether actually there is oil and gas in that land. Second of all, you have to get a permit to actually develop that land."
Sommers added: "Right now we actually are developing more leases than we have in two decades so the White House certainly doesn't have their facts straight on this."
Energy Workforce and Technology Council CEO Leslie Beyer similarly said "some permits are viable and some are not," as a reason for why many are sitting unused. The federal leasing moratorium also isn't helpful in the current energy environment, she said.