Let’s be very, very clear – Republican lawmakers are lying about gas prices and America’s energy independence. Not only is the U.S. a bigger net exporter of energy under President Biden’s leadership, but there is zero evidence that the Biden administration’s policies have impacted gas prices or domestic energy production. 

FACT: There is no compelling evidence that the Biden administration’s policies have had any direct impact on oil production, and experts agree  rising gas prices are due to pandemic-related disruptions. 

Washington Post: “There’s little evidence that Biden’s policies have had any direct impact on oil production.”

New York Times: “The primary reason for rising gas prices over the past year is the coronavirus pandemic and its disruptions to global supply and demand.”

Roll Call: “While Republican lawmakers and some industry advocates have argued that Biden administration policies are hindering production, market experts point instead to a number of nonregulatory factors preventing the industry from rushing into drill-baby-drill mode.”

GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick De Haan: “Covid changed the game, not President Biden … The pandemic brought us to our knees” 

FACT: The Keystone XL pipeline was years away from completion when President Biden took office, and even in an alternative universe where it was operable today, it would have little impact on gas prices. 

New York Times: “Even if Mr. Biden had greenlighted the project and TransCanada, now known as TC Energy, had won its court battles, it is unlikely that the pipeline would have been operational today given that the company estimated in March 2020 that it would have entered into service in 2023.”

Washington Post: “Keystone XL still would not have been built by now even if Biden had permitted it to go forward — and even if it were in place, the impact in prices would be measured in pennies. Moreover, even without Keystone XL, imports from Canada have increased about 50 percent over the past decade.”

FACT: The U.S. was a larger net exporter of energy last year than under Trump, and exported more petroleum than it imported last year.  

New York Times: “The notion that the United States gained ‘energy independence’ under Mr. Trump, and reversed course under Mr. Biden, is also misleading.”

FactCheck.org: “But through the first 11 months of 2021, the U.S. also was on its way to being a net exporter of energy last year — and, thus, by that definition, ‘energy independent.’”

Washington Post: “The United States actually exports more oil than it imports. In 2021, according to the Energy Information Administration, the United States imported about 8.47 million barrels per day of petroleum, compared to exports of 8.63 million barrels per days… In other words, the United States cannot be an island in the worldwide energy market. But it is more secure as a net exporter of petroleum.”

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