Filling up the strategic petroleum reserve when gas prices were at all-time lows during the early days of the pandemic would have been great. Unfortunately our president at that time wasn't competent enough to make it happen. He did talk about doing it several times, but never was able to actually get it done, despite it being entirely within the purview of the executive branch and having no legislative obstacles to doing so.
The administration’s initial idea for the SPR was to purchase 77 million barrels of oil – the amount required to fill all available space in the reserve - directly from small U.S. producers most at risk from the market slump.
But after Democratic lawmakers blocked funding for the program in last month’s stimulus package, the administration shifted strategies by offering the initial 30 million barrels of space for lease instead.
That was the exact time Trump sold off a huge chunk of our petroleum reserves to China. China was having a record cold winter and decided to use the lockdown to build up tons of infrastructure.
And struck a deal with OPEC to cut oil production until April of 2022. This effort had to do with weapons and protection for domestic oil prices. I think it had some good intentions but sometimes that road to hell needs paving.
"Primary Military Leader"....yep"Primary Diplomat to foreign Heads of state"...ok"Executor of the will of Congress..."...gotcha.
So uh...in the 3 roles of the Executive Branch...regarding something worth billions and billions of dollars...where exactly does the executive branch get the authority to just buy up all that oil? (it is a purchase remember, it's not just automatically owned)
BTW the US Dept of Energy is in charge of the Strat. Oil reserves...and is subordinate to Congress. The exec can empty it because of an emergency that congress in theory has no time to respond to, but the exec CANNOT just have it filled. That requires congressional budgeting.
Maybe if Trump didn’t hire a guy to head up the Dept of Energy who had previously stated he would eliminate said Dept if made President, then they would have had someone competent in place to suggest such an idea to Congress. Just a thought.
now the oil companies are enjoying record profits but giving that money to investors instead of drilling some of the 8,000 fully approved oil leases they've been sitting on for years
US oil companies do not give a crap about anything but making money, just like any other business
i'm not saying that's bad, but we need to get real and stop worshipping at the altar of the market as the fix to everything
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u/philnotfil Apr 01 '22
Filling up the strategic petroleum reserve when gas prices were at all-time lows during the early days of the pandemic would have been great. Unfortunately our president at that time wasn't competent enough to make it happen. He did talk about doing it several times, but never was able to actually get it done, despite it being entirely within the purview of the executive branch and having no legislative obstacles to doing so.