Lankford Supports Tax Cut – Oklahoma Energy Today

Oklahoma’s U.S. Senator, James Lankford, is co-sponsoring a bill, looking to reduce taxes on gasoline, despite the likelihood of it also doing away with a tax that funds the cleaning of Superfund sites in Oklahoma and other states.

According to Lankford, the approval of the bill would result in lower gasoline prices without jeopardizing health or safety. In his recent statement to StateImpact, he said, “We can fund the essential clean up of superfund sites and keep prices down at the pump for all Americans.”

The bill, known as the Pay Less at the Pump Act of 2026, seeks to abolish the Superfund tax on crude oil and imported petroleum products. The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) reinstated this tax in 2022 to assist in the remediation of the nation’s Superfund sites.

This is not the first time Senator Lankford has sought to remove the tax; he made a similar attempt back in 2023.

In his words, ““As I predicted, the so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ was just a front for progressives to slip through Congress many of their Green New Deal priorities, including a ‘Superfund Tax’ on oil and gas,” he stated. “So the fantasy that he can tax his way into a renewable-only economy is only hurting Americans. We should work on lowering prices for Oklahoma families, not punishing them with more taxes.”

Senator Lankford and other advocates argue that this tax results in increased prices for households and businesses. They point out that when the tax was reinstated, it was raised from 9.7 cents per barrel to 16.4 cents per barrel. The tax was also adjusted for inflation, which will eventually lead to more significant tax burdens.

Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo) and Mike Carey (R-Ohio) drafted the legislation with the goal of reducing gas prices and supply chain costs.

The proposed legislation could potentially affect Oklahoma’s most infamous Superfund site, Tar Creek. This area was severely polluted due to mining, leading to the government-completed buyout and forced abandonment of Picher in 2009-2010.

An analysis by StateImpact and KGOU Radio indicates that funding for Superfund sites started to decrease in 1999. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency currently lists 18 locations in Oklahoma as past or present national priorities.