GOP senators send letter to Biden opposing energy policies: 'A fundamental threat'

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EXCLUSIVE - A group of GOP senators led by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., sent a letter to President Biden on Friday expressing opposition to his energy policies.

The letter notes that within Biden's first 100 days in office, he halted construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and lifted sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Senators also mentioned gasoline shortages  Americans up and down the East Coast faced as a result of a significant cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline earlier this month, comparing them to the shortages that resulted from the Arab Oil Embargo of the early 1970s. They also mentioned the 41% increase in gasoline prices since Biden took office.

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"Left uncorrected, any one of these actions in isolation harms American families, hampers our economic recovery, and degrades our national security," the senators wrote. "Taken together, they represent a fundamental threat to America’s long-term economic and national security."

The senators are urging the president to "take immediate actions to put America back on a path of energy independence and economic prosperity."

"If we are to overcome the economic consequences of the pandemic, it is imperative that necessities such as fuel take as little out of family budgets as possible so that Americans can return to work, plan summer vacations, and resume the historic economic progress that was underway before the pandemic struck," the letter reads.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., meets with Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept, 30, 2020. (Joshua Roberts/Pool via AP)

Senators also noted that high energy costs "disproportionately affect low- and fixed-income households."

Republican Sens. Tillis, John Barrasso or Wyoming, John Thune of South Dakota, John Cornyn of Texas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Steve Daines of Montana, Rick Scott of Florida, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, John Hoeven of North Dakota and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee signed the letter.

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The president's decision to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and also at least temporarily pause drilling on federal lands and waters came within the first few hours he was officially in office.

The president also re-entered the U.S. into the 2016 Paris climate agreement and pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by at least 50% by 2030. All this with the goal of the U.S. economy achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

The economic ramifications are among the top concerns for states that find themselves impacted by Biden’s climate agenda. 

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The Keystone XL Pipeline was going to provide a "windfall" for eastern Montana, Austin Knudsen, the state’s attorney general, said earlier this month.

Not only is the state losing $127 million in annual wages, but also $60 million in annual tax revenue that would be used to fund sheriff’s offices, fire departments, schools and roads. That doesn’t include the economic damage caused by the drilling ban on federal lands and waters. 

Knudsen and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in March led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in suing the Biden administration. 

FOX Business' Jonathan Garber contributed to this report.