Biden Admin to Totally Deplete Northeast Gasoline Reserve in Bid to Lower Prices Before Election
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
President Joe Biden is being accused of politicizing the latest sale of gasoline from our national reserves as we enter into the 2024 election cycle amid his long record of presiding over some of the worst gas prices in history.
The Biden administration moved to sell off 1 million barrels of gasoline from the U.S.-managed stockpile in Northeastern states, Reuters reported.
The Department of Energy announced the sale on May 21 and noted that the Office of Petroleum Reserves would begin taking bids for the gasoline for delivery no later than June 30.
The move — required under legislation Biden signed into law in March — will effectively close down the reserve, which was created in 2014.
The proceeds will be deposited into the U.S. Treasury, according to S&P Global.
The sale was mandated by law because refined gasoline has a shorter storage life than unrefined oil.
The administration, though, claimed there is a benefit to the sale of the reserve and that it would help lower the soaring price of gas as the summer months arrive. And America needs some relief, after all. Thanks to Biden’s disastrous policies, inflation is killing the American dream and throwing millions of Americans out of the middle class.
“By strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4th, we are ensuring sufficient supply flows to the … northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.
Biden’s critics, though, say the sale only took place now because Biden hoped to use any beneficial effect as a campaign tool amid his horrible economic policies.
Former President Donald Trump, for one, blasted him for the sale, saying the president was “trying to stop that because high gasoline prices are not good for elections.”
Trump added that Biden was selling off the reserve “because he’s unable to drill properly.”
“Everything [Biden’s] done has been very bad for our country.”
President Trump slams Biden for releasing 1 million more barrels from the strategic oil reserves to artificially lower gas prices ahead of the election.
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— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) May 21, 2024
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah also criticized the sale, saying Biden was “yet again using America’s emergency fuel reserves to cover for his disastrous inflationary policies in an election year.”
President Biden is yet again using America’s emergency fuel reserves to cover for his disastrous inflationary policies in an election year. https://t.co/0I2d6BNVRo
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) May 21, 2024
Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsh Blackburn also took aim at the announcement, saying, “Releasing 1 million barrels of gasoline from the Northeast reserve is a desperate move by Joe Biden to lower prices that HE raised. This reserve is meant for emergencies, not as a cover-up for Biden’s failed economic policies.”
According to Tim Evans, an independent analyst at Evans on Energy, if there is any effect on prices, it won’t last long.
“The added cushion of commercial inventories is bearish for the market at the margin,” Evans said, according to S&P Global. “At the same time, it’s worth bearing in mind that the extra supply is the equivalent of 1,000 futures contracts, a volume that might be easily absorbed. This is also a one-time transfer and not a source of ongoing supply.”
Biden has presided over some of the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history, and Americans are spending more of their income than ever just to pay their bills and purchase their daily needs.
The average price of a gallon of gas during Trump’s last week in office in January 2021 was $2.38.
Now it is more than a dollar higher.
That is something voters aren’t likely to overlook.
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