AS I SEE IT
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
Americans are seeing the highest gas prices in the past decade and now President Joe Biden is planning to take 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to lower those prices.
According to the AAA, the national average price of gasoline recently rose to $3.42 a gallon, up from $2.11 a year ago. That means that the cost of filling up your tank could be anywhere from $10 to $30 more than a year ago.
Sure Americans would welcome lower gas prices, but let’s be real about what impact taking 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would have on gasoline prices, especially when you consider that as part of the president’s plan, he intends to ship a portion of that oil to foreign countries.
The net result of taking oil from the nation’s stockpile would be just a few pennies at the pump for most consumers. In reality, the president’s decision is just a political move to show that he wants to do something.