This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Democrat scheme drained supplies so fast, 'it did some damage to the facilities'

The administration of President Donald Trump has revealed plans to fix the Strategic Petroleum Reserve disaster created by Joe Biden's administration while he was in office.

The SPR, created following the 1973 energy crisis, serves as an emergency stockpile of unrefined petroleum, maintained by the Department of Energy, to mitigate the impact of supply disruptions that may occur because of world events.

The petroleum actually is stored at four sites along the Gulf Coast.

Biden stunningly ordered up 1 million barrels were to be released per day for 180 days in order to mitigate price hikes that developed because of his economic policies, and the threat reduced imports because of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Most previous releases had maxed out at some 10 million barrels.

Now U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has estimated it will take $20 billion and years to refill the reserve.

A report at Legal Insurrection described how, "The nation is still facing some issues related to Biden's destructive and senseless energy priorities."

The report noted the SPR is the world's "largest emergency crude oil stockpile with capacity to store about 727 million barrels."

It currently is at about 395 million barrels.

The report said overall, the nation's energy outlook is slightly brighter since Trump took office and issued an executive order declaring a "national energy emergency."

That directed the Department of Energy to prioritize refilling the SPR.

Administration officials how have confirmed the reserve is being refilled, after being depleted "for electoral reasons."

Wright explained. "And in fact, it was drained so fast, it did some damage to the facilities. And so, right now, we only can fill two of the four major salt caverns we have, so we are doing repair work on the other two. We're slowly filling the other two, and I'm trying to get some funds through Congress that'll give us a longer-term runway to fill the strategic petroleum reserve at the fastest rate we can."

Biden's officials had claimed they had purchased enough oil to replace what Biden ordered released.

A report in the Hill said Biden officials said they purchased 40 million barrels, and canceled the sale of 140 million barrels "accounting" for the amount taken out.

However, a report at OilPrice.com explained the details.

"On July 29, multiple news outlets reported that the Biden administration has replenished the 180 million barrels of oil it removed from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. One headline read, 'U.S. Restores SPR to pre-2022 Levels,'" the report said.

"It is absolutely false that the SPR has been replenished," it reported.

"The reporting seems to be a misreading of the following precisely-worded commentary by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm: 'As promised, we have secured the 180 million barrels back to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve released in response to Putin's war in Ukraine – and we accomplished this while getting a good deal for taxpayers and maintaining the readiness of the world's largest Strategic Petroleum Reserve.'"

The report explained, "President Joe Biden inherited an SPR at 638 million barrels when he took office in January 2021. However, first in response to rising gasoline prices, and then as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Biden announced the most aggressive SPR drawdown in history. At its low point in July 2023, the SPR was drawn down by 288 million barrels, although some of that was due to congressionally-mandated sales. Since then, the Biden administration has made a few purchases to put oil back in the SPR. But, as of the week ending July 19, SPR levels had only risen 27.7 million barrels from the low point. That is only 9.6% of the oil that was removed from the SPR."

As of the date of the OilPrice report, last fall, the SPR still was 260 million barrels below the level it was when Biden took office.

The report said the misleading statement from Granholm confirmed that politicians were "taking credit for barrels" of oil that hadn't been delivered, meaning they took a "minor" purchase and made the impression they replaced 180 million barrels of oil that had been removed.

"So, it wasn't that 140 million barrels were put back, they are saying they avoided depleting it by another 140 million barrels in the future. So, it is absolutely false that the SPR has been replenished to pre-2022 levels. This reporting is based on a misunderstanding of the DOE's comments, which seem designed to imply that 180 million barrels were put back into the SPR."

Politico had raised the question during the Biden drawdowns whether the reserve left the U.S. ready for a crisis.

It noted Biden "sold off more than 40 percent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve" to minimize rising fuel prices.

"That's fueling Republican accusations that Biden has left the U.S. vulnerable to a disruption of global oil supplies — at a time when Hamas' terrorist attacks in Israel are stoking fears of a wider regional war disrupting fuel shipments from the Middle East," the report said at the time.

"That's Joe Biden's fault for trying to lower the price of gas before the election," House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., told the publication.

The Trump administration also has been aggressive in encouraging production of oil, which had been targeted for elimination by Biden.