From the Bloomberg article I read on this, 1 million barrels is a blip and won’t meaningfully impact prices. The east coast consumes 3 million barrels PER DAY in the month of June.
Also, this action was mandated to happen by congress in a funding bill from March, mostly because the cost of maintaining gasoline reserves is much higher ($13/barrel/yr) than maintaining crude oil reserves ($0.30/barrel/yr).
Why is gasoline so much(!) more expensive to store?
It’s really volatile and prone to evaporate
That does not make sense in a big storage tank.
Shelf life is short
Hm, that makes some sense. But rotating the fuel every 6 months or so causing that much cost is crazy. For that kind of money it could be actual barrels and I pump them around by hand.
Yeh more co2, fuel them big ass SUVs
Gas demand is not very price sensitive. This won’t make people drive more.
Alright, if its pointless lets not release an extra million barrels of gasoline to be converted to co2
It costs a lot of money to store gasoline. Why would we keep paying for that when we could release it and pump a million less barrels out of the earth?
Tapping reserves means less pumping, not more burning.
Gas demand is absolutely price sensitive lol
Is not though.
People don’t start joy riding like mad when the price goes down. The continue to just go to work, to the store, and all the normal stuff. Maybe a couple people road trip more when gas hits $2, but not a significant number.
People may actually drive more when gas prices go up. They might drive instead of flying to a vacation to save money.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it is releasing 1 million barrels of gasoline from a Northeast reserve established after Superstorm Sandy in a bid to lower prices at the pump this summer.
“The Biden-Harris administration is laser-focused on lowering prices at the pump for American families, especially as drivers hit the road for summer driving season,″ Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in the statement.
“By strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4th, we are ensuring sufficient supply flows to the tri-state (area) and Northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said release of gas from the Northeast reserve builds on actions by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, “to lower gas and energy costs — including historic releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the largest-ever investment in clean energy.″
Biden significantly drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dropping the stockpile to its lowest level since the 1980s.
The election year move helped stabilize gasoline prices that had been rising in the wake of the war in Europe but drew complaints from Republicans that the Democratic president was playing politics with a reserve meant for national emergencies.
The original article contains 442 words, the summary contains 209 words. Saved 53%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is not only politically smart and strategically sound, it’s the right thing to do. The oil reserve should be used to moderate prices, and keep everyone from Chevron to MBS in check.
Thanks Uncle Joe and Uncle Sam.
This is 90 minutes of domestic use. It’s a nothingburger story. I wouldn’t get too far up Uncle Joe’s ass.
I swear over the weekend i heard something about them buying. Apparently they have a target cost that they try to keep it to or at least try to prevent sudden changes.
We already have record breaking fossil fuels production, why not increase domestic usage too?
Next thing you’ll know he’ll increase tax subsidies to pump prices are cheaper but we pay more in other taxes unless we drive a giant truck long distances.
I don’t get why Biden always does this performative shit instead of, you know, just actually helping people.
I don’t get why Biden always does this performative shit instead of, you know, just actually helping people.
You and the guy that says “Why isn’t Biden doing more to keep inflation in check?!” should meet and talk on your shared contradictory positions.
Spoiler: that conversation will just be them looking around to see if anyone else is listening followed by asking each other how many people they’ve tried to discourage from voting.
Oh, it’s you.
Next thing you’ll know he’ll increase tax subsidies to pump prices are cheaper but we pay more in other taxes unless we drive a giant truck long distances.
He’s cutting costs, and you’re angry at imaginary problems?
That’s their secret, they’re always angry.
Someone else pointed out that the east cost apparently uses 3mil barrels per day. I highly doubt costs will be cut here. Plus the U.S. already has cheap as dirt gas prices. The guy you’re reaponding to is mad at imaginary solutions.
If Biden wants to help people he needs to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels. He needs to revise the rules that incentivise building larger, hungrier vehicles, and the citizens need to stop bitching and moaning while driving around objectively worthless guzzlers. Anyone who drives a truck or SUV when they could easily just own a station wagon has negative respect from me.
I am aware, also, that several things can happen at once but centrists are always so fucking weak in their responses to anything and never solve any problems without the left having to twist their arm every which way for decades. It’s exhausting.
Or put a cap on prices and stop letting the “market” decide the price of gas.
$1 per gallon. Figure it out.
Yes, because what we really need is to incentivize more usage of fossil fuels.
I’ll never argue in favor of fossil fuel, but making transportation prohibitively expensive only hurts the average person.
people having a life and being able to afford to change their lifestyle away from fossil fuels is more important at the moment.
we really need more education surrounding the issues and better alternatives, once everyone realises how much damage cars cause and once they realise/once they have a viable alternative (i.e. trains) then people will start to switch away. in the mean time people still need their cars to get to work, because that is how the US is designed, and expensive fuel will only result in them having less spare change, rather than them actually using their car less.
sure, if everyone had enough money that they could afford to change up the way they do things or if everyone had a job that they can do from home or if everyone lived within walking distance from their job, then maybe you would have a valid argument. people are much less likely to go on a road trip, for example, if its gonna cost them 3x more than they expect it to cost, but people need to go to work to survive.
If Biden wants to help people he needs to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels.
Like subsidizing the cost of EVs with a $7500 tax credit that was accomplished in the Inflation Reduction Act Biden signed almost 2 years ago in August 16, 2022? source
He needs to revise the rules that incentivize building larger, hungrier vehicles,
So like Biden’s Department of Transportation did in April 2022 by raising CAFE standards that took effect this year in 2024? source
Anyone who drives a truck or SUV when they could easily just own a station wagon has negative respect from me.
I’m not a fan of SUVs either, but there are very few station wagons produced for the USA market, and those that are get about the same MPG as a small SUV. BEVs or hybrids (even if they are small or medium sized SUVs) are better choices than the few station wagons we that are available for sale today.
I am aware, also, that several things can happen at once but centrists are always so fucking weak in their responses to anything and never solve any problems without the left having to twist their arm every which way for decades. It’s exhausting.
So what does that make your position where the things you’re asking for passed into law years ago and you’re here complaining about them not existing? Uninformed?
The EV thing isn’t the worst, though I’d like to see that money going towards public transportation for more people. It’ll always be better and all that really does is help the rich stay richer while poorer folk still need to buy used gas-powered vehicles until a used EV market picks up.
Maybe it’s in there and I just didn’t see it but the biggest issue with the CAFE laws is that there are exceptions for huge vehicles that no one needs which makes them cheaper to manufacture. A smaller, lighter wagon will generally have more space, actually, and be better on fuel but no one makes them because they realized they could just pump ads at people focused on “feeling powerful” in large vehicles. You can also make the wagons EV and the smaller size and weight will improve their range, too. You’re looking at how things are instead of how they easily could be(and were not too long ago).
I know Biden’s done ok with some stuff but it’s still kinda weak and the fact that he’s looking for a pat on the back for the bare minimum is kinda pathetic. And people still have to vote for the dumbass because the DNC won’t let anyone better come forward and the GOP are a disaster like no other.
The EV thing isn’t the worst, though I’d like to see that money going towards public transportation for more people.
Public transportation spending like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was signed into law by President Biden on November 15, 2021? source
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, as enacted in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, authorizes up to $108 billion for public transportation – the largest federal investment in public transportation in the nation’s history.”
Maybe it’s in there and I just didn’t see it but the biggest issue with the CAFE laws is that there are exceptions for huge vehicles that no one needs which makes them cheaper to manufacture.
I agree that the “fleetwide calculation” loophole the NHTSA uses does too much to let automakers off the hook on a big part of the SUV fuel economy increase standards. I’d like this loophole closed or the rules revised drastically. However, even with the “light truck” loophole, the increased CAFE standards force SUVs to get slightly more fuel effient because of the required “fleetwide average” in place now.
You can see we get a series of small increases on “light trucks” highway mileage with a nice 3MPG bump in 2025 source
I’d like more, but its not nothing.
A smaller, lighter wagon will generally have more space, actually, and be better on fuel but no one makes them because they realized they could just pump ads at people focused on “feeling powerful” in large vehicles. You can also make the wagons EV and the smaller size and weight will improve their range, too. You’re looking at how things are instead of how they easily could be(and were not too long ago).
Okay, so your comment earlier about wanting people to buy station wagons was for a theoretical car that isn’t on the market in the USA, right?
I know Biden’s done ok with some stuff but it’s still kinda weak and the fact that he’s looking for a pat on the back for the bare minimum is kinda pathetic. And people still have to vote for the dumbass because the DNC won’t let anyone better come forward and the GOP are a disaster like no other.
- Largest public spending in public transportation EVER
- Large tax credits to incentivize EV purchases
- Large increases in CAFE standards with large impacts on cars (and some good impacts on SUVs).
Besides tightening up the “light truck” loophole, can you please tell me what you’d expect that doesn’t qualify for the “bare minimum” that you’re calling the efforts so far?
Smacks of desperation.
Irony.
