As record gas prices continue to climb around the nation, one  U.S. Congresswomen blames rich oil producers. 

Iowa’s Third Congressional District Representative Cindy Axne believes oil companies are not producing enough oil like they were in 2020, and not taking advantage of the acres of federal land leases that are available. Axne says the cost of a barrel of oil was $60 in 2020 and the country was producing around 13 million barrels a day and now the daily production is down 1.3 million barrels. 

“Those oil CEOs are literally saying statements like this, ‘Whether it’s $150 oil or $200 oil, we’re not going to change our growth plans.’ They’re saying things like the capital that we would normally spend and growing. We’re now going to redeploy that into share repurchases, literally to put more money back in the pockets of the rich shareholders.”

Many politicians have argued green energy policies from the Biden Administration have been the cause for rising gas prices. Axne says there is no logic to this argument. 

“I just mentioned that these oil companies could be producing more and they’re choosing not to. We also have companies who have the go ahead to produce and they’re not.”

Axne says the long term solution is to invest into alternative energy sources like Iowa’s ethanol and solar energy.