Keystone Today

The Functional Government Initiative (FGI) announced July 7 a transparency lawsuit against the Department of Energy (DOE) following a denial for requested records on the Biden administration’s decision to release millions of barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

“With each release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, we weaken our ability to respond to a legitimate supply crisis,” said FGI spokesman, Peter McGinnis. “The SPR was created to respond to real emergencies, a category that does not include falling poll numbers caused by a failed energy policy. Americans deserve to know if political motives are behind moves that put their security at risk.”

According to the report by FGI, in January, they opened an investigation into the decision to release the first 50 million barrels. FGI claims it repeated efforts to work with the DOE in an investigation, but the department has not complied with Freedom of Information Act obligations. Therefore, FGI feels the lawsuit is the only way to force DOE to release records to show “the true basis for this unprecedented drawdown of SPR.”

In November 2021, CNBC reported, that the Biden administration announced it would tap into the SPR by withdrawing 50 million barrels of emergency crude oil. Congress created the SPR in the 1970s after the Arab oil embargo, to maintain a reserve to address supply issues.

However, the FGI stated there has been no major disruption in the oil supply that would lead to such a withdrawal. The report added that the Colonial Pipeline hacking attack in May 2021 disrupted fuel supplies to the East Coast but did not trigger an SPR release.

President Joe Biden announced March 31 the release of up to 180 million barrels of crude oil from the nation's SPR over a six-month period in his effort to curb high gas prices. Biden said there would be a slight delay in declining prices by days and weeks, but the prices would drop by an unknown range.

"It could come down fairly significantly. It could come down [to] a better part of anything from 10 cents to 35 cents a gallon, it’s unknown at this point,” Biden said.

According to Reuters, the Biden administration exported 5 million barrels of oil from the U.S. SPR to European and Asian countries in June. There were cargoes of SPR crude sent to the Netherlands and to a refinery in India. Another cargo ship went to China. Phillips 66, the world’s fourth largest U.S. oil refinery, shipped 470,000 barrels of sour crude oil from Big Hill SPR in Texas to Trieste, Italy.

According to the latest Gasoline Misery Index, Pennsylvanians will spend $717 more on gasoline now than they did last year. The average for the country is $830. The index tracks how much more, or less, the average American consumer pays for gasoline each year.