No Reason to Tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Romina Boccia / June 10, 2011

In response to OPEC’s inability to come to agreement on boosting oil production, the White House indicated that it would not shy away from tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which holds 700 million barrels of unrefined petroleum reserves in underground salt caverns, in order to smooth over oil supply disruptions originating from the Libyan conflict. A temporary oil price increase, however, is not a valid reason to tap into the U.S. emergency oil supply, which is, after all, a national security asset.

Although President Obama’s approval ratings have been suffering under the heavy burden of high gas prices across the country, national security interests—not politics—should guide the use of America’s SPR. As Heritage policy experts James Carafano and Nick Loris explain:

The SPR, managed by the Department of Energy (DOE), exists for moments of national crisis when there is a dramatic disruption in oil supplies. The current high prices at the pump are a national concern—but playing politics with a national security asset is not the way to address the problem. (more…)