Biden Announces Use of American Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to Try to Lower Gas Prices Instead of Increasing Production; Our Enemies are Watching

President Joe Biden announced a plan Thursday of releasing 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) in an effort to bring down soaring gasoline prices. His plan would be in effect for the next 180 days, or approximately the next six months.

Biden, pinning the blame for higher fuel costs on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as well as pandemic-induced shortages, said, “Our prices are rising because of Putin’s Actions.” The president added, “There isn’t enough supply. And the bottom line is if we want lower gas prices, we need to have more oil supply right now.”

Bidens’s decision was heralded by White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who said, “This release is ‘Historic.'”

But, like in previous efforts to combat gasoline prices with oil reserve releases, critics were skeptical about the impact the release would have.  Gas Buddy’s Patrick de Haan said it was a troubling move. “I do believe the national average could eventually fall under $4 per gallon in the weeks ahead, but I don’t necessarily think this SPR release is the event that will be the primary catalyst for it,” he tweeted. “If anything, it could help get us there quicker, but again, likely at the expense of long-term stability.”

Also critical was Steve Milloy, the founder of JunkScience.com and former member of Trump’s EPA transition team said, “Biden’s plan to release 1 million barrels of oil per day for up to 6 months is yet another pretend action to reduce gasoline prices. U.S. consumption is about 18 million barrels per day so Biden’s plan can and will have no meaningful effect on oil prices, especially given current pipeline and processing constraints.” Milloy also points out, “The only way out of the inflationary spike in oil prices is to unleash domestic production, including more pipelines and refinery capacity, which Biden refused to do because of his climate agenda.”

It appears this decision could be more political as Biden is not focusing on increasing production for energy independence because of his administration’s and the Democrat’s position against fossil fuels. As well as Biden’s   extremely low approval ratings, if he doesn’t get something done before the mid-terms, the Republicans are likely to wipe out the Democrats come election time.  Odd, how that 180 day of releasing oil leads right up to mid-terms.