An economist told Fox Business host Neil Cavuto that President Joe Biden needed to “allow energy producers to do what they do” during a Thursday appearance or things were “only going to get worse.”
“You know, this really is a supply and demand issue, and every time there’s a natural disaster we hear about price gouging,” Nick Loris, vice president of public policy for C3 Solutions, told Cavuto. “And if we actually set price caps on gasoline, on water, on generators, that’s going to result in a much worse situation because you’re going to have a lot of people hoarding these commodities and so therefore a lot of people won’t be able to get them, a lot of the people that need them most won’t be able to get them, to meet them, so this is really not a problem right now. The industry is working hard to keep refineries and stations online to make sure that prices stay as low as possible, but really there’s no issue here and it is just a fact of supply and demand.” (Biden Demands Gas Station Owners Lower Prices Due To Big Oil’s ‘Record Profits’)
Biden threatened oil companies with a federal investigation if they engaged in “price gouging” in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. Gas prices are up 99 cents from September 2021, according to AAA.
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Some experts have said that Biden’s hostility to fossil fuel production made energy prices go higher. The Biden administration revoked a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline in January 2021, canceled a planned offshore lease sale in May and asked a court to uphold a ban on oil and gas lease sales in June.
“I’ve covered many of these hurricanes and Mother Nature events. You always get a run on fuel. For a lot of people to top their tanks, they have to get out, evacuate, so they get nervous, just like they make a run at stores like Costco to get their hands on anything and everything they can and they hoard, so that might be a factor,” Cavuto said. “But, again, we don’t see it in prices. But let me get the big macro picture from you, Nick. I mean, we’re seeing energy prices pick up again here, utility bills in this country picking up. I know looking at gas or energy of any sort, here and in Europe, it’s out of control. Are we facing energy inflation again?”
“It certainly feels that way, and without the necessary permitting reforms and the expedited processes to get more supply online it’s only going to get worse because that demand is there, we’ve seen natural gas prices are up, electricity bills are higher and the prices at the pump are still uncomfortably high for most Americans, and without that necessary supply to help bring down prices, it’s going to remain that way for quite some time,” Loris responded. “So, I think what the API has said about expediting permits to provide some regulatory and policy certainty that America is a global leader as an oil and gas producer and does so more environmentally friendly than anyone else in the world should send a strong signal to the administration and Congress to really get to work to allow energy producers to do what they do and that’s supply Americans with affordable, reliable power.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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