A Nation Depleted
The depletion of our nation's strategic oil reserves and ammunition is alarming.
I had never considered using the word "depleted" to describe our country until a few weeks ago. After all, the United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and we are all very blessed to live here. But a few things I learned lately have gotten me really worried. On top of my list is the depletion of our nation's strategic oil reserves and ammunition. Both are affected by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but the ultimate responsibility lies with the Biden administration.
SPR Is Dangerously Low
In 1975, responding to the Gulf states' oil embargo of 1973-1974, President Ford authorized the creation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to prepare the nation for the next energy crisis. Between 1975 and 2020, according to Alexander Zemek, an energy analyst, our government only tapped SPR three times-"17.3 million barrels during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, 20.8 million barrels following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and 30.6 million barrels following military intervention in Libya in 2011."
Thanks to American entrepreneurs' animal spirits, technological innovations such as fracking, and the Trump administration's pro-energy policies, the United States achieved energy independence in 2018. For the first time, we produced more fossil fuels than we consumed, and increasingly, we exported our energy worldwide.
The misguided COVID pandemic lockdowns have depressed both energy consumption and production. Just as the energy industry was poised to recover post-pandemic to meet the rising energy demand, Joe Biden became the president. His administration and its green allies had waged a relentless war on fossil fuel, which demoralized the U.S. energy industry and sent energy prices soaring long before Russia invaded Ukraine early this year (see the chart below).
Responding to the rising gas prices, the Biden administration began to release the SPR at the rate of about one million barrels a day at home while importing oil from unsavory adversaries, including Russia. This is worth repeating. The Biden administration began to release the SPR when no crisis warrants such an action.
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