Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma President Brook A. Simmons issued the following statement in response to comments by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden during his Oct. 22 debate with President Donald Trump. During the debate, Biden said, if elected, he would “transition away from the oil industry.”

“Vice President Biden’s energy platform is a recipe for an economic and national security disaster that would leave millions of Americans in the cold and dark. The Biden plan would destroy the economies of every oil and natural gas producing state, leave the rest of the nation vulnerable to vicious energy price and power instability, and again make America reliant on foreign despots for our own energy security.

“In Oklahoma, the oil and gas industry is responsible for one-third of the state economy, one out of every five jobs, one out of every three dollars in earned income, and one out of every four dollars in public spending for schools, roads, bridges and other priorities. Simply put, Joe Biden’s plan is to shut down Oklahoma.”

ABOUT THE PETROLEUM ALLIANCE – The Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma is the only trade association in Oklahoma that represents every segment of the oil and natural gas industry, representing more than 1,300 member companies engaged in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the state’s defining industry.