BUILD BACK BRANDON: It’s not just electricity. We’re heading for shortages of diesel, jet fuel and gasoline.
Our total operating refinery capacity dropped by 4.5 percent between 2020 and 2021 to 17.7 million barrels per day. That’s the lowest level we’ve seen since 2013. The current U.S. stockpile of diesel fuel is at a nearly two-decade low. The distilled fuel oil stockpile also declined precipitously. Meanwhile, the price of jet fuel has been rising due to supply and demand issues. Because the vast majority of food and other goods are all transported by a combination of aircraft and trucks (the vast majority of which use diesel), when those prices rise, the cost of everything goes up. And when the supply of those fuels falters, the supply chain shuts down. We already saw examples of this over the past six months. If something doesn’t change, it’s going to get worse.
All of this is taking place during the same period of time when President Biden has canceled three oil and gas lease sales.
Crises by design: Biden praises high gas prices as part of ‘incredible transition’ of the US economy away from fossil fuels.