Biden took office determined to shift the nation's course on climate change. Now that legacy could be threatened by the political urgency to cut gas prices.
The release is the third in the past five months and would be by far the largest amount ever injected by the U.S. government into the market, amounting to about 5 percent of daily demand.
Advocates for renewable energy say the global crisis shows the need to move further away from coal, gas and oil as prices for those commodities spike. Their critics contend just the opposite — that wind and solar have been tested and came up lacking.
The California Air Resources Board on Sept. 27, 2018, imposed a tougher “low carbon fuel standard.” Gas prices will climb as much as 36 cents a gallon by 2030; diesel prices by 44 cents.
