Recently, Biden has made several public appearances in which he insisted he is not to blame for rising gas prices. Instead, he blamed the increasing cost of gas on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has backed up these claims, and even went a step further by suggesting a lack in domestic oil production is the fault of US oil companies.
Here are some of the facts you may or may not know.
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order banning new drilling permits on public lands and waterways. He also canceled permits for construction on the Key Stone Pipeline Project.
In response to growing public dissatisfaction with the steady increases in gas prices, Biden repeatedly claimed he was NOT responsible. In fact, he even tried to convince the public that rising prices were good for America! Ironically when gas prices dipped slightly in Sep 2021, Biden did claim credit for that slight, but short lived, price drop.
Biden banned 90% of new drilling permits.
Biden banned new drilling permits on public land. However, as Psaki recently pointed out, 90% of all drilling permits were issued on public lands. It should be obvious to even the most uninformed that a policy which eliminates 90% of all new drilling permits would have a negative impact on domestic oil production.
Biden has tried to increase oil production.
Since taking office Biden has worked tirelessly to lower the price of gas by increasing oil production- by asking OPEC and other foreign oil producers to produce more oil. And so far his requests have gone unanswered. Most recently Biden has tried to make deals with Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Iran, to increase oil production.
What is even stranger, is that Biden has made no effort to meet with American oil producers about increasing production.
In fact, over the past year, gas and oil companies have filed numerous law suits against the Biden Administration in an effort to force them to begin issuing new drilling permits for public land. Many of these law suits have been successful, and courts have ordered the administration to start issuing permits. However, the Biden administration has continued to ignore new permit requests- at least until now.
Biden has starts issuing new drilling permits.
American’s growing anger towards Russian aggression against Ukraine has forced the administration to reduce (not eliminate) oil purchases from Russia. This is causing oil and gas prices to soar higher and faster. Since Biden has been unable to convince foreign oil producers to increase production, and public opinion has forced the administration to reduce oil purchases from Russia, they are being forced to increase US domestic production. The Biden administration has started issuing drilling permits at a furious pace.
And very soon you can bet the administration will be claiming credit for taking steps to increase domestic oil production. despite the fact that they only took action after being forced to by the courts, and growing public outcries.