White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked during the daily briefing if the White House is worried that fuel shortages in Europe will impact green energy vows ahead of the Glasgow Climate Change Summit in December.
“We certainly hope not,” Psaki replied, leading to ongoing conversations with world leaders about the upcoming gathering.
Psaki asserted the climate crisis was more important than cheaper fuel, calling global warming “one of the greatest national security crises the president sees.”
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“Certainly, we all want to keep gasoline prices low, but the threat of the crisis — the climate crisis — certainly can’t wait any longer,” she concluded.
Gas prices in America are at a seven-year high, according to reports. Psaki criticized Hurricane Ida for the spike in gas prices in the United States, a storm that knocked the southern coast more than a month ago. “We’re continuously monitoring,” she said. “We’ll look to take additional steps as needed.”
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The gas shortages are also influencing countries in Europe as the British government deployed military tankers to deliver fuel to thousands of empty gas stations.
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Gas prices have firmly risen higher this year, and Americans are now paying the most at the pump in seven years.
The national average price for a gallon of gas stood at $3.22 on Wednesday, according to AAA, which is the highest since at least October 2014. In some places, consumers are paying much more.
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In California, the average price is more than a dollar higher at $4.42. In the state’s Mono County, prices have topped $5.
Rising gas prices come after an oil rebound. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, traded around $77.60 per barrel Wednesday, after topping $79 in the previous session for the first time since November 2014. One year ago, a barrel of WTI fetched about $40.
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Search for oil products fell in 2020 as the pandemic shut economies worldwide, urging producers to turn off the taps. Though demand has recovered as people hit the road and business activity picks up, supply has remained kept. Producers have been reluctant to deliver barrels to the market, and Hurricane Ida exacerbated the supply and demand imbalance when it knocked production in the Gulf of Mexico offline.
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In the face of rising oil prices, some thought the coalition of oil-producing nations known as OPEC would opt to increase output. Alternatively, the group decided Monday to adhere to a previously agreed-upon schedule to return 400,000 barrels per day to the market in November.
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