In yet another move destined to weaken America at the hands of our energy adversaries, President Biden has announced the sale of 15 million more barrels from the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
The entire goal of the sale, to be seen as “doing something” to drive down gas prices, is nothing more than an election scheme intended to bailout Democrats from their policies which have left America in an energy-dependent state. Groveling to Saudi Arabia and Venezuela hasn’t been working out so the Biden administration has turned back to a last-ditch effort of selling off our own energy savings bank on the global market:
President Joe Biden on Wednesday formally announced the sale of an additional 15 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in December as he looks to lower gas prices ahead of the crucial midterm elections.
“With my announcement today, we’re going to continue to stabilize markets and decrease the prices at a time when the actions of other countries have caused such volatility,” Biden said in a speech from the White House. “And I’ve told my team to be prepared to look further – look for further releases in the months ahead if needed.”
The President also revealed the administration’s plan to purchase oil to refill the emergency reserve, which is now at its lowest level in nearly 40 years, when prices fall to $70 a barrel.
“Refilling the reserve at $70 a barrel is a good price for companies. And it’s a good price for the taxpayers. And it’s critical to our national security,” Biden said.
The President also called on Congress to pass permitting reform to speed up the permitting process for sustainable energy projects.
When does Biden expect oil to hit $70 a barrel again anytime soon? The OPEC+ nations seem to be enjoying this high-dollar oil and nothing we beg of them seems to be changing that. Does it seem prudent heading into what is being forecasted as a colder-than-average winter that depleting more of the nation’s oil reserves is a good idea? Especially viewed in the context of the Ukraina-Russia war still happening and the global energy market in peril, why aren’t were opening our domestic production to the max?
As Byron York notes in the Washington Examiner, the SPR is there for national emergencies which Biden seems to be taking as a green light to help his own party:
That is the last portion of the 180 million barrels he authorized for release in March, which was the biggest withdrawal ever from the reserve that is supposed to ensure a supply of oil in case of a national emergency.
In this case, the national emergency is most likely the midterm elections, in which the president’s party is likely to lose seats in Congress, in large part because of runaway inflation that is powered, in significant part, by an increase in gas prices. Biden’s release reduces the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, to its lowest level in nearly 40 years.
York also notes that former President Donald Trump tried to cap off the SPR at historically low energy levels in 2020 only to be blocked by Democrats at the time. The price would’ve been lower than the $70 threshold Biden has now set to trigger purchases of oil once again.
The entire move is risky and dangerous in terms of where it leaves the country in the event of a true oil supply disruption. America should be energy dominant around the world. What Biden’s doing here is more of the same in terms of a non-solution to a problem he created. It’s a temporary band-aid designed to lower the price of gasoline a little bit before November in an effort to try and take some heat off his own party.
Voters won’t be soon to forget who drive prices into record territory, to begin with, and the backward energy policies that created this mess.
