The average price of gas increased by $1.23 (34 percent) during Biden’s presidency prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) has introduced a Senate resolution recognizing that, since President Joe Biden’s inauguration, two indisputable things have happened: (1) President Joe Biden has implemented policies impeding domestic energy production; and (2) gas prices have steadily increased.
“While President Biden is blaming the Russian invasion for high gas prices, the truth is that gas prices have been steadily increasing since day one of his presidency because of the Biden Administration’s anti-American-energy policies,” Senator Hagerty said. “The solution is obvious: instead of making excuses, the Biden Administration must end its war on American energy production.”
Text of the resolution can be found here.
Background:
On January 20, 2021—inauguration day—the average price of gas was $2.38 per gallon. That same day, President Biden revoked the Keystone XL Pipeline permit, paused oil-and-gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and placed new regulations on American oil-and-gas production, including directing agencies to assess a “social cost of carbon” on American producers.
By separate order that same day, President Biden also rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement, a landmark international fossil-fuel suppression mandate. The President also repealed several executive orders issued by President Trump that reduced federal regulation and increased regulatory transparency in order to facilitate “robust regulatory action” to address climate change.
The following week, President Biden stopped new oil-and-gas leases on public lands and offshore waters, where roughly a quarter of U.S. oil-and-gas production occurs.
A few months later, President Biden established the Climate Change Support Office (CCSO) to support the Biden Administration’s “efforts to elevate and underscore the commitment [the] Administration will make towards addressing the global climate crisis.”
Following the enactment of these policies that obstructed domestic energy production, the average price of gas climbed to $3.02 per gallon, at which point President Biden directed financial regulators to take actions to discourage financing of American oil-and-gas production in order to “mitigate climate-related financial risk.”
By September 2021, after President Biden’s order that by 2030, 50 percent of new U.S. sales of passenger cars and light-duty trucks be zero-emission vehicles, the average price of gas was $3.17 per gallon.
By January of this year, the average price of gas was $3.28 per gallon, and the President continued his war on American energy by calling for the federal government to achieve a carbon-free electricity sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050.
Two days before Russia invaded Ukraine, and nearly a week before the Biden Administration banned Russia oil and energy imports, the average price of gas was $3.61 per gallon.
Hagerty this week published an op-ed in National Review explaining the absurdity of President Biden’s claim that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is responsible for the current energy crisis and skyrocketing gas prices.
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