Gas Prices

The president recently authorized the release of 30 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve in an effort to bring down gas prices. Since that decision, however, the price of a barrel of oil has increased over $5.

Because this is the first time the oil reserve has been used in a non-emergency situation, I wanted to know how Idahoans felt about the president’s decision. I created a poll on my website to find out and of those who responded, 74% disagreed with the president and 26% agreed.

I believe the strategic petroleum reserve was created to be used only in times of crisis. The 30 million barrels of crude oil released will now have to be replaced at a higher price and greater cost to taxpayers. Instead of using gimmicks to try and influence the market, we need to increase our domestic oil production by streamlining the permitting process and reducing burdensome regulations.