Keystone Today

Gas prices continue to be above $4 causing pain at the pump for drivers across the country, and while President Joe Biden has made moves to alleviate this issue, legislators have criticized him for his tactics that have lessened the country’s emergency crude oil supply.

In an effort to bring down the prices President Joe Biden announced the usage of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve crude oil in March 31. However, data has shown that the SPR has been reduced by nearly 85 million barrels of emergency oil, and this has gained criticism Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) who took to Twitter to voice his concern.

"Wake up America. 1 million barrels per day is being released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Biden is draining the SPR, which last month fell to the lowest since 1986,” Rep. Higgins tweeted.

On Thursday, March 31, President Biden announced the release up to 180 million barrels of crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over a 6 month period, in his effort to curb high gas prices. The president said there would be a slight delay in declining gas prices by days and weeks, but the prices would eventually drop by an unknown range.

CNBC reported that in 1975 the SPR was created by Congress after the Arab oil embargo. The intent was to maintain a reserve so severe disruptions in supply could be addressed. The Functional Government Initiative’s recent press release shows that there has been no major disruption in the oil supply that would lead to a withdrawal like this.

Recent data showed that, as of April 1, the SPR held 564.58 million barrels of oil in stock. Then as of July 15, the SPR inventory was 480.1 million barrels of oil, a decrease of 84.48 million barrels.

Gas prices have fluctuated over the past few months, but data from AAA shows on July 19 shows that there has been a 6.6% increase in the price of gas since Biden announced the oil release. On that day gas was $4.22 per gallon compared to $4.50 per gallon on July 19.

The latest Gasoline Misery Index shows that the average Pennsylvania resident is spending about $632 more on gas this year in comparison to the same time last year.