Joe Biden has been chilling in retirement for about 18 months now, but the gifts he left behind just keep on giving. According to USA Journal, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, America's emergency oil piggy bank, is sitting at its lowest level in 43 years. And one of the four storage sites? Completely busted. Not just empty. Not just neglected. Straight up inoperable. Like a fire extinguisher that's been sitting in the garage so long it turned into a decorative paperweight.
So here's the backstory. The SPR exists for genuine national emergencies, like wars and supply chain catastrophes. You know, serious stuff. Instead, Biden pulled 180 million barrels out of it right before the 2022 midterm elections. His own energy officials reportedly admitted the move was designed to reduce political risk rather than respond to any actual supply crisis. Nothing says "emergency preparedness" quite like using the nation's oil safety net to make gas prices look prettier right before voters head to the polls.
And did he ever refill it? Of course not. Why would you put the spare tire back in the trunk after you used it?
But wait, it gets even better. Kyle Haustveit, the current Undersecretary of Energy under the Trump administration, just dropped a revelation that is truly chef's kiss levels of government incompetence. The Biden team actually purchased equipment specifically meant to repair one of the four SPR sites. They bought it. They had it delivered. Then they just, and I cannot stress this enough, left it sitting outside. On the ground. Exposed to whatever Mother Nature felt like throwing at it.
By the time Trump's people showed up and found this equipment, the weather had degraded it to the point of being completely useless. So taxpayers funded repair gear that nobody ever installed, for a facility that was being drained for political convenience. That's like buying a gym membership, leaving the membership card in the rain, and then complaining that you're out of shape.
Haustveit also noted that the previous administration had zero long term maintenance plan for any of these sites. No strategy for keeping things operational. No system for restoring what was being depleted. Just vibes and election math.
Now the Trump administration finds itself in a genuinely tricky spot. They're currently releasing oil from the SPR as part of a coordinated international response through the IEA to stabilize energy markets disrupted by the Iran conflict. That is literally the exact scenario the reserve was built for. But the tank is already near empty because somebody used it for political purposes, and one of four sites is about as functional as a chocolate teapot.
To their credit, the current team is reportedly replacing every barrel released through a swap program so the reserve doesn't shrink any further. They're treating it like the national security asset it actually is, rather than a mood ring for polling data.
So to recap: Biden emptied America's emergency oil stash for political optics, never refilled it, bought repair equipment and abandoned it outdoors like a forgotten Amazon package, and left an entire storage facility completely non operational. And now the current administration is managing a real military conflict with a depleted, partially broken backup system. Somewhere, the concept of long term planning is weeping softly into a pillow.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
