gas prices and energy policy and The Orange Man

Depew NY

Description

Gas prices have risen because current supply is less than current demand. This is economics 101, supply and demand at work. The current problem is due to 2 reasons: 1) during covid there was a glut of gas as people were not driving, as a result oil companies scaled back production. As we emerge from covid shutdown there is more demand but oil companies are hesitant to risk their assets to produce more gas/oil, thus supply remains lower than demand. 2) With Putin's "special operation" in Ukraine, the supply of fossil fuels from Ukraine have been cut off by war and the supply of Russian fuel has been cut off by embargo. As we look back at history, dating back to the energy shortage of the 70's we see that one party looked to the future with thoughts of energy efficiency and environmental issues. The other chanted "Drill Baby Drill." Remember back just a few years ago when The Orange Man was busy "Making America Great" how he cut the CAFE standards for cars? You don't? well at the bottom I have included a link and extracted quotes to refresh your memory. In summary we had standards requiring new cars have increasingly better fuel economy and Trump rolled those standards back. Had he not rolled them back then there would have been less gas needed to drive our cars. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/490318-trump-administration-rolls-back-obama-era-fuel-efficiency-standards/ "The Trump administration on Tuesday rolled back an Obama-era law that pushes automakers to produce more fuel efficient vehicles, severely limiting a rule designed to decrease pollution from transportation in the face of climate change. The new rule cuts the year-over-year improvements expected from the auto industry, slashing standards that require automakers to produce fleets that average nearly 55 mpg by 2025. Instead, the Trump rule would bring that number down to about 40 mpg by 2026, bringing mileage below what automakers have said is possible for them to achieve."