U.S. Sen. James Lankford said he is looking for Congress to move to increase permits for mines, pipelines, power plants and drilling.
While traveling across Oklahoma during a two-week Easter legislative break to meet with constituents, Lankford met with Bartlesville residents Tuesday to discuss what his team is working on and to get feedback on what needs more attention .
He said loosening energy regulations is one of his main concerns.
“We have to be able to solve the problem of permits for energy,” he said. “This is a long-term issue, but it’s also extremely important for Oklahoma, and if we can lower the price of energy, we’re going to lower inflation at the same time.”
He said the Biden administration’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 is unrealistic and that data doesn’t support weaning off oil by then.
“This carpet is made from petroleum products. It’s in your clothes, it’s in your chair, it’s in your car and if you buy an electric car, it’s in that car with all the lubricants,” Lankford said. “Real batteries that are created for an electric vehicle need carbon byproducts.”
Lankford supports the diversification of energy sources, but these permits and regulations are slowing the process.
“We can’t do natural gas pipelines, we can’t do more drilling in more places because this administration is shutting down permits,” Lankford said. “But we also can’t mine the lithium, we can’t mine the cobalt, we can’t build hydrogen pipelines, we can’t do any of those things because it’s the same permits, we have to fix. our permitting process.” .
“In Canada, it takes five years to permit a new mine; it takes us 20 (years).”
Lankford said China has now secured roughly 60 percent of the world’s cobalt supply, and he sees a future where the Asian country could cut off that crucial supply.
“I’m going to fight like crazy to make sure we don’t go from being dependent on Middle Eastern oil to just being dependent on China,” Lankford said.
Westwin Elements, a Bartlesville startup, hopes to build the only U.S. cobalt-nickel refinery in Lawton to meet the nation’s cobalt supply needs.
“I am grateful for Senator Lankford’s recognition of the problem,” said KaLeigh Long, CEO of Westwin Elements. “China has historically been a problem in its dominance over our critical metal supply chain; however, it is a problem that can be solved and the solution is on the way at Westwin Elements.”
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Trump’s impeachment
Lankford spoke briefly about the historic impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
“I’m one of those people who says everybody is under the law, but everybody should be treated fairly under the law,” Lankford said. “It’s pretty remarkable to have 34 offences, and there were a lot of people who said it wasn’t just going to be business records, and at the end of the day, it was just business records.”
“It doesn’t pass the basic smell test, and this really looks like a political prosecution,” Lankford said.
