Pence during Rice University visit: 'We need to unleash American energy now'

Rice University hosted former Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday (May 10) for a discussion on U.S. energy policy and energy security.

Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported that Pence, a Republican, spoke at the university's Baker Institute for Public Policy, criticizing President Joe Biden as rising gas prices grip the nation and the world.

"The stakes are too high," Pence said, according to KTRK. "We need to unleash American energy now. In just one year, President Biden has turned a surplus of American oil and gas into a deficit. All in the name of environmental extremism, and all at the expense of the American worker."

Pence's address at the invitation-only event lasted half an hour, KTRK reported.

He repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction in his predecessor in the nation's second-highest office – Biden was vice president from 2009 to 2017 – over the latter's handling of the country's energy policy, asserting the current administration lacked the ability to achieve energy independence, per the station.

According to KTRK, Pence, who was the second highest official in the Trump administration, has spoken out on energy individually and through his nonprofit organization, Advancing American Freedom, after Jan. 20, 2021.

The group has aired commercials in support of energy independence, the station reported.

The Baker Institute's Mark Jones told KTRK that the U.S. likely would've achieved and maintained energy independence if former President Donald Trump was reelected president but added that the country "is closer to combatting climate change" on Biden's watch.

Austin ABC affiliate KVUE reported that Tuesday gas prices across Texas reached an all-time high.

AAA spokesperson Joshua Zuber told the station that several factors have contributed to the pinch at the pumps.

“A tighter supply and increase in the demand for fuel products, and that’s going to equal high pump,” Zuber said, according to the station.