White House Offers Plan To Reduce Energy Prices

On March 31, President Joe Biden announced a plan to release approximately 180 million barrels of oil from the U.S.’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The initiative was part of larger program to try to address rising gas and energy prices.

The president also called on Congress to approve legislation that will require oil companies to pay fees if they have unused wells or hold leases on public lands but aren’t producing oil and he issued issue a directive authorizing the use of the Defense Production Act to secure U.S. production of critical materials needed to hasten the transition to cleaner energy.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce offered alternative ideas to reduce gas prices. These include:

• Finalizing the approval of four liquified natural gas (LNG) export applications awaiting action by U.S. Department of Energy;
• Developing the legally required Five-Year Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing Program;
• Moving expeditiously to conduct oil and gas lease sales; and
• Enacting permitting reforms to bolster our ability to deliver that energy to consumers.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at gasoline price website GasBuddy, told The Hill that the release from the SPR could cause gas prices to drop by 10 to 20 cents per gallon.

In related news, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated that she would not support legislation that suspends the federal tax on gasoline, saying that such a measure would be “paying for something to give a break to the oil companies.”