On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Fox Business Tonight,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) stated that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at a 37-year low in the face of Hurricane Ian making landfall in Florida because President Joe Biden drained the reserve in a “political move” to compensate for his bad energy policies.
Host Sean Duffy said, “[T]he Strategic Petroleum oil Reserve [is] at a 37-year low. We have that reserve for what we see happening in Florida right now when you have a hurricane hit or a disaster hit, something that’s unforeseen, [so] that we can tap into that reserve to shore up American supply. Joe Biden has used it just to drive down prices, in — I would argue — in anticipation for the midterm elections trying to help his party.”
Cassidy responded, “I totally agree with you. This is a political move. We should be already planning to refill that reserve. But ideally, we would not have had to have tapped into it. We could have increased domestic production. Now, by the way, that portion of our energy economy that Biden does not control, privately-held lands, the rig count is up. We’re probably producing about a million more barrels per month on private lands. We need the President to open up the tap, if you will, on public lands, off the coast of Louisiana, Texas, etc. That would create American jobs, it would produce more American energy, it would drive down prices, and we could leave the SPR alone.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett