Prices jump for gasoline, heating oil, propane

San Francisco CA

Description

What we're standing against Pain at the gasoline pump Quick summary: Anyone who’s driven a car in the past few months knows gas prices are astronomically high. Bad news: President Joe Biden and the Democrats’ green obsession is threatening to keep energy costs shooting up and throw America’s energy independence out the window. What’s happening? Gas prices are higher than they’ve been in seven years. The average price per gallon across the country is currently $3.40. Americans who fill their tanks weekly are paying more than $50 extra a month in gas costs than they were last year. It’s worse in some cities than others. In San Francisco, residents expect prices to hit an all-time high—potentially $5 per gallon—this week. Why are gas prices rising? As the world boomed back from coronavirus shutdowns, Americans started moving around again. Demand for gas quickly rose, making it difficult for gas and oil producers to keep up. Channeling Economics 101: When supply is limited, prices rise. How does oil get from the ground into Americans’ cars? Drillers bring up crude oil from the ground. Then, transporters use pipelines, ships, or even trains to funnel the oil to refineries. In refineries, the oil is made into the form of gasoline we need for our cars. Once refined, the gasoline is brought by pipeline, ship, or truck to a gas station near you. You insert your credit card, and voilà—gas. Where does America get its oil? Going back decades, America has relied on other countries to import oil—especially countries that make up the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), like Saudi Arabia. Then, things started to shift. Around 15 years ago, America’s shale revolution ramped up our oil production, and we became an energy powerhouse. The Trump administration unleashed American energy even more by slashing unnecessary rules and red tape that held our producers back. The result? In 2018, the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of oil. For the first time in decades, we were sending out more oil than we brought in. What is Biden doing? Reversing all this progress by hurting Americans’ ability to produce our own oil. Since his first day in office, Biden’s been shutting down drilling and blocking pipelines—all while boosting Russia’s ability to bolster its energy supply. The U.S. producers Biden hasn’t shut down yet are hesitant to produce more, as the Biden administration wages war on American fossil fuels. Now, Biden’s begging our adversaries for help. In August, Biden asked OPEC and Russia to pump out more oil to help beat down America’s rising gas prices. To add insult to injury, Biden and the Democrats are pushing policies in their multi-trillion-dollar spending spree that would threaten to hike energy costs even higher and further hurt our supply.