April Editorial Winner

Not right decision: Release of oil reserves is short-sighted, won’t help consumers long term

By Cindy Allen, Enid News & Eagle

Once again, the Biden administration is demonstrating its complete lack of understanding about the purpose of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The president is unfortunately using these important reserves as a political tool to ease fuel prices that actually will have minimal impact. 

The president announced Thursday he is releasing about 180 million barrels of oil from the reserve for the next few weeks. He’s doing it to bring down high gas prices that have been brought about by more demand for oil, as well as the uncertainty about Russian oil brought on by the Russian war against Ukraine.

The purpose of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is to have enough oil to tap into in times of national emergency or supply shock, none of which is occurring right now. The reserves were put in place in 1975 after oil supplies were interrupted during the 1973-74 oil embargo. That was a time when our country relied more heavily on foreign oil, and when OPEC reduced its supply, there was a shortage of oil and long lines at gas stations.

We do not have a national shortage of oil or a major supply disruption. We do not have a national emergency at this time. Prices already have been coming down due to natural supply and demand factors. This release of oil will save consumers just a few cents in the short term, but could be harmful in the long term should we have a national disruption.

Certainly, higher gas prices hurt consumers. The soaring inflation and price increases on just about everything are hurting. However, Biden’s decision to further tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is misguided and could drain important emergency reserves.

Because of the OPEC debacle in 1973- 74, national leaders at the time made a wise decision to stockpile oil as well as develop a framework to produce more oil in the United States. That policy has served us well until about a decade ago when Democratic administrations decided to fall in line with climate change fanatics and start penalizing and dis-incentivizing oil and gas production.

The oil and gas industry has shown that it can produce oil and gas in a more environmentally friendly manner. Oil and gas producers have developed and embraced technology to reduce CO2 emissions and lessen their environmental footprint. Production of natural gas over coal continues to be a key factor in reducing CO2 emissions.

Still, the Biden administration continues to embrace policies to restrict U.S. production of oil and gas.

If the Biden administration is serious about helping consumers with lower prices at the pump, they need to unleash U.S. energy production, expedite permits to produce and approve much-needed pipeline infrastructure. This should be included in a comprehensive energy strategy that embraces a wide range of energy resources to produce more efficient and less expensive energy.

Those kinds of actions will have a much better long-term impact on consumers than this unwise move to reduce 30% of our nation’s oil stockpile.