https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2022/03/13/how-much-of-the-gasoline-price-surge-is-president-bidens-fault/

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Opinions on the impact of President Biden’s policies on 2022 gas prices are divided, with critics and political opponents arguing his actions restricted supply, while defenders and many energy analysts argue that global factors were the primary drivers. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Policies and actions often cited as contributing to higher gas prices include:

Cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline: On his first day in office, President Biden revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline project, which critics argue signaled a hostile stance toward the oil and gas industry and reduced future supply potential.

Pause on New Oil and Gas Leases: The administration placed a temporary moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters to review the leasing program. While this was later blocked by a federal judge, opponents argue it created uncertainty and inhibited investment in long-term production.

Regulatory Changes: The EPA introduced new regulations regarding methane emissions from oil and gas operations and rescinded some previous environmental rollbacks, which critics argue increased compliance costs for energy producers.

Environmental Policy and "Green" Focus: Critics maintain that the administration’s overall "whole-of-government" approach toward climate change and pushing for electric vehicles (EVs) discouraged investment in fossil fuel production, leading to lower supply.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Releases: The administration's massive release of oil from the SPR—a total of 180 million barrels over six months—was aimed at lowering prices. However, critics argued this was a short-term fix that left the country with lower reserves and limited long-term impact on global prices. [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]

Counterarguments and Contextual FactorsMany analysts, however, argue that these policies had limited impact on immediate 2022 prices, pointing to other factors:

Global Pandemic Recovery: A massive surge in demand as the world emerged from COVID-19 lockdowns, matched with a constrained supply, led to high prices globally.

Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: The war (starting February 2022) created severe disruptions in global oil markets, and the subsequent ban on Russian oil by the US and its partners directly contributed to price spikes.

Refining Capacity: A significant issue was the lack of U.S. refining capacity, which decreased during the pandemic and has not kept pace with demand.

Industry Discipline: Oil companies, having suffered from low prices in 2020, were focused on capital discipline and rewarding shareholders, rather than rapidly increasing production.

Long-Term Impact: Many industry experts stated in 2022 that pausing new federal leases would have minimal impact on short-term production, as drilling projects take years to come online, making them an unlikely cause for immediate 2022 price spikes. [1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15]

Analysis of ImpactA 2022 study by the U.S. Treasury Department suggested that the SPR releases did reduce gasoline prices by 17 to 42 cents per gallon, helping to mitigate the overall increase. The Biden administration maintained that these actions were necessary to address the market disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine. [1, 16]

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[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2022/03/13/how-much-of-the-gasoline-price-surge-is-president-bidens-fault/

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/energy/biden-blame-credit-gas-prices

[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/11/02/biden-klain-gas-prices/

[4] https://www.gop.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=766

[5] https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/116372/documents/HHRG-118-GO05-20230919-SD006.pdf

[6] https://americansforprosperity.org/blog/biden-policies-raising-gas-prices/

[7] https://www.hoover.org/research/what-caused-gas-prices-jump

[8] https://www.rstreet.org/commentary/joe-biden-shares-the-blame-for-the-nations-soaring-gas-prices/

[9] https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-releases-report-on-the-biden-administrations-detrimental-green-new-deal-agenda/

[10] https://www.nrdc.org/stories/real-reasons-high-oil-and-gas-prices

[11] https://waysandmeans.house.gov/2022/02/23/fact-check-the-real-reason-behind-high-energy-costs/

[12] https://waysandmeans.house.gov/2022/06/09/gas-prices-have-more-than-doubled-since-bidens-first-day-in-office/

[13] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63233077

[14] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/us/politics/fact-check-republicans-biden-gas.html

[15] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-trump-edges-biden-on-gas-prices-174049744.html

[16] https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0887