Since President Joe Biden’s attempt to convince the American people that prices are hunky dory despite what they see on their grocery and gas bills isn’t moving the polling needle in his direction, the Biden administration seems to have come up with a new approach.
The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it will release one million barrels of gasoline from the Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve, according to the Associated Press.
The Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve was established under former President Barack Obama in 2014, two years after Superstorm Sandy, according to Energy.gov.
For those who live in the Northeast, you may remember the massive gas shortage in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which left thousands without heat and resulted in fist fights at gas stations, according to the New York Times.
The reserve holds one million barrels of gasoline product in New Jersey and Maine to help mitigate any future supply disruptions impacting the Northeast.
While relatively small, the regional reserve was created to provide a buffer supply of gasoline if refinery outages, pipeline disruptions or other events prevented adequate shipments from reaching the densely-populated Northeast corridor. However, the reserve has never actually been tapped.
Now, it looks like Biden is hoping the emergency reserve will fuel his election ambitions.
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The decision comes as the nationwide average for a gallon of gasoline stands at $3.60, up six cents from a year ago, according to AAA. Releasing reserve funds is one of the few ways at this time that the Biden administration hopes will counter the effects of inflation and help Biden’s dismal poll numbers, the AP reported.
It’s sort of like cashing out your emergency savings to go on a vacation.
JUST IN: The Biden administration announces it is releasing 1 million barrels of gasoline from a Northeast reserve.
These reserves were established to supplement in times of a natural disaster.
However, the Biden Administration said this is a move to lower gas prices ahead of… pic.twitter.com/bsnahFRz7U
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) May 21, 2024
The gasoline will be sold off in increments of 100,000 barrels through a competitive bidding process. The move aims to increase supplies and lower costs for American motorists in the Northeast as demand rises around the Fourth of July holiday, according to the AP.
The Energy Department stated the sale aims to “lower costs for American families and consumers.” However, the department is acting under orders from Congress to completely deplete and subsequently shut down the 10-year-old Northeast gasoline reserve. Lawmakers included this directive as part of a broader spending package passed in March to prevent a partial government shutdown.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said the release of the reserves was part of Biden’s plan “to lower gas and energy costs — including historic releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the largest-ever investment in clean energy.″
In 2022, also an election year, after Russia invaded Ukraine, President Biden authorized significant releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, causing the emergency stockpile to plummet to its lowest level since the 1980s, ABC News reported.
Since then, the Biden administration has started to replenish the reserve, which contained over 367 million barrels of crude as of last week, although it is still under pre-Ukraine levels.
Former President Trump weighed in on the decision, speaking outside the courtroom of his trial in New York, saying that Biden is doing this to lower prices at the pump just before the election “because he’s unable to drill properly.”
“He’s destroyed everything we had,” Trump said.
“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
If the Northeast were to suffer another storm like the last one, gas stations in impacted areas could face prolonged supply shortages like the ones after Hurricane Sandy, when some stations went over a month without receiving fuel deliveries.
It leaves the region without a safety net shortly after the largest earthquake to ever hit the region.
But hey, at least Joe Biden can placate his base over the Fourth of July holiday.
