By U.S. Sen. John Kennedy

If there were a contest to design the worst possible energy policies for Louisiana, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris would win by a mile.

Their administration’s breathtakingly dumb energy agenda is killing Louisiana jobs, driving up prices, and draining America’s emergency fuel reserves.

In January, for example, the Biden-Harris administration followed the advice of TikTok activists and paused all new permits for liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals. The permit prohibition has jeopardized several Louisiana facilities and thousands of jobs, including those at the Calcasieu Pass 2 export terminal in Cameron Parish.

The LNG permit pause also makes it more difficult for our allies to get American natural gas.Under this administration’s watch, Russia recently surpassed the United States to become the European Union’s top LNG supplier. Apparently, President Biden and Vice President Harris would rather see LNG exported from the Kremlin than Louisiana.

Fortunately, a federal judge in Louisiana recently reversed this irresponsible LNG permit ban. The judge told the Biden-Harris administration it had no authority to harm state economies or overhaul American energy policy without Congressional authorization. Thank goodness this case did not land before one of the many activist judges President Biden’s team has nominated to the federal bench.

TikTok teens aren’t the president’s only energy advisors. The White House recently cut a deal with activists to stunt American energy production to purportedly protect Rice’s Whales in the Gulf of Mexico — even though activists could only point to one unscientific report to justify the regulations.

The newly proposed regulation would block off-shore oil production in roughly 6 million acres of the Gulf. It would also reduce the speeds at which oil and gas carriers can sail through the Gulf, literally slowing Louisiana oil production elsewhere.

The Biden-Harris administration dropped everything to address one flimsy study, yet it ignores countless reports about how these anti-energy policies benefit our adversaries in China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela. Stupid should hurt more.

These bad policies have hit Louisianians and all Americans in their pocketbooks. Since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office, electricity prices have increased 30% and gasoline is up 58%.

Americans hate these high prices, and President Biden and Vice President Harris know it. That’s why they depleted nearly half of America’s strategic petroleum reserve to artificially lower gas prices. As recently as Independence Day, the Biden-Harris administration raided another 42 million gallons of our emergency fuel to help hide the true price of inflation.

The petroleum reserve is our only emergency fuel supply. It’s all we have if things go wrong. Yet President Biden and Vice President Harris have chosen to gamble this national security asset to cover up the costs of their bad energy policies.

Refilling the strategic reserve won’t be easy. Under the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S. has produced an estimated 3 million fewer barrels of oil per day than what could have been generated had President Trump’s policies remained unchanged.

As ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, I’ve pushed back against the Biden-Harris administration to protect Louisiana jobs, preserve our waters, and bolster our energy production.

Most recently, I secured the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to build the National Center of Excellence for Liquified Natural Gas Safety in Lake Charles. The center will operate in partnership with McNeese State University and other Louisiana colleges to house state-of-the-art job training facilities, and it will reaffirm Louisiana’s reputation as a national hub for LNG research and development.

Additionally, the Senate approved funding to expand Louisiana’s hydropower capabilities. Our most recent Energy and Water appropriation package allocated $440 million for the country’s dam and levee infrastructure, including $36.5 million to reinforce the Boggs Lock and Dam on the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway in northwest Louisiana.

Thanks to my efforts, the Senate also passed a bill to extend the hydropower construction permits for two projects on the Red River. These facilities faced unforeseen delays because of the Biden- Harris administration’s inflation as well as supply chain issues. With these permit extensions, Louisiana will have time to bring these projects online.

My work in Congress will help mitigate some of the damage the Biden-Harris administration has caused in Louisiana, but the best way to get out of this hole is to stop digging.

Louisianians and indeed all Americans are beginning to understand that the voting booth is the only place they can go to restore common sense and stop the Biden-Harris administration’s awful energy policies.