November 23, 2021
You and I both know gas prices are extremely high right now. But today the White House says it’s doing something about it.
Namely – tapping the strategic petroleum reserves. The Biden Administration is releasing 50 million barrels of oil in mid-December to try and pump supply into our country to help bring the prices down. The White House says this is not just happening here. It’s being done in coordination with other major energy consuming countries like China, India, Japan, Korea and the UK. They will also release some of their reserves.
The President calls this move the “largest ever release” of oil from our country’s strategic reserves. But – it’s important to understand — even the energy secretary says – yes the prices will come down…but it may not happen immediately. It could take a few more weeks.
It’s also unclear how oil-producing nations of OPEC+ will respond to all this. Saudi Arabia, Russia and other gulf countries that make up OPEC+ have made clear they intend to control the supply of oil to keep prices high for the time being. Critics say this “work around” by the white house in coordination with other energy consuming countries may cause OPEC+ to pull back supply even further. We’ll have to wait and see.
Oil prices have dropped over the last few days as investors had been anticipating this move. AAA says the average cost of a gallon of gas in the US today is $3.40. Which is definitely less than it had been. But it’s significantly more than it was this time last year – it was $2.11 a gallon.
Read the White House announcement here.
AAA gas monitor here.
PLUS
The Department of Justice has officially asked the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the OSHA vaccine and testing mandate to continue while the lawsuits play out in court.
DOJ on behalf of the Labor Department and OSHA filed this 55-page motion today asking these judges to lift the stay put in place by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals before the multi-circuit lottery was held last week. If you don’t know what I’m talking about – please go watch these two videos.
In today’s filing, — which we all knew was coming — the federal government argues – the 5th Circuit got a lot wrong and if this court further delays OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard, it would “likely cost many lives per day, in addition to large numbers of hospitalizations, other serious health effects, and tremendous expenses.” The OSHA ETS would require workers at all US companies with more than 100 employees be vaccinated or tested regularly by January 4th.
The government goes on to argue – even if the 6th Circuit decides not to lift the stay and keep the OSHA ETS on pause while this all plays out in the courts – the judges should at least—modify the 5th Circuit ruling to allow the government to impose a requirement that unvaccinated workers wear a mask and be routinely tested for Covid19. The appellate judges have not yet ruled on this filing.
Dozens of states, unions and companies have filed lawsuits to put a stop to this OSHA rule. They argue the mandate violates the first amendment, exceeds OSHA’s authority and Congress’ ability to oversee these types of federal agencies, among other things. Those cases are all being transferred into the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals who will ultimately rule on all the cases.
Read the DOJ filing to the 6TH Circuit Appellate court HERE.
