Senate Committee debates Ukraine war’s impact on U.S. energy security

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Next week marks one year since Russia invaded Ukraine.

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The invasion has changed the way the United States and other countries around the world have had to manage their energy supplies.

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Over the last year, the U.S. and our European allies have started to move away from relying on Russia’s energy exports.

The start of the war led to a temporary spike in domestic gas prices. That’s why there’s a renewed focus in Washington on energy independence.

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“Overreliance on a single supplier, any supplier, leaves the United States and the rest of the world vulnerable to other countries,” Assistant Secretary of Energy Andrew Light said during a Senate Energy Committee hearing Thursday. “There can be no lasting energy security without diversifying energy supply, including expanding the use of clean energy.”

However, some Republicans on the committee pointed to a need for more gas and oil production here in the United States. They criticized the Biden Administration’s energy policies, including the move to stop the Keystone Pipeline.

“Oil and natural gas are energy production, and the facts of the matter are this President has reduced our ability to be energy independent,” Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley argued.

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There was some bipartisan agreement when discussing the potential to place more restrictions on Russia.

The Department of Energy says the U.S. currently relies on Russia for about 20-percent of Uranium used in commercial nuclear power plants, so lawmakers are now working to explore other options to move away from that dependence on Russia as well.

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