US President Joe Biden has now moved forward with a multi-faceted plan to help Americans amid the current energy crisis. He not only invoked the Defense Production Act to help with EV batteries, but also authorized the release of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which will work to lower gas prices.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk may have rubbed some people the wrong way when he called for an immediate increase in gas and oil production in the US. However, no matter what the administration does related to promoting electric cars and EV batteries, it's going to take time for the transition to roll out.
As we noted just yesterday, Biden was aiming to use the US Defense Production Act to promote the mining and production of EV battery minerals. We noted that while it was a solid idea, it's not something that's going to help overnight. Still, the US needs to dig into plans now that will help it become energy independent going forward. This way, perhaps we won't be in this situation in the future.
We also shared that in the meantime, the President needs to do something instantaneous to help with gas prices. Musk's early tweet stated that "Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures." He also said that increasing oil and gas output immediately would negatively impact Tesla, "but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil & gas exports."
It has been clear for some time that Biden and Musk don't see eye to eye. However, the steps the President took this week follow precisely what Musk suggested a few weeks ago. As it turns out, you can listen to Greta Thunberg, help Elon Musk and other EV makers, and provide a more immediate solution for US citizens all at the same time.
One of the big problems we tend to see with politicians on both sides of the aisle is that they try to "fix" problems now without making adequate plans to keep them from happening again and/or potentially becoming worse in the future. In order to move forward successfully, and help all Americans, we need an instant fix for the time being followed by a permanent fix for the future.
Biden's plan will release over 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. More specifically, it authorizes the release of 1 million barrels per day for six months.
The President also signed a Defense Production Act directive that will allow the US to put a high priority on the mining and production of key EV battery materials, and even offer subsidies to companies that are ramping up their efforts.
The Department of Defense determined in a recent study that the components needed for high-capacity batteries are critical to our country's national defense. The authorization will also help the government construct new US factories for battery material production.
A host of other details are available. Check out the source links below for more information.
