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The Obama administration's announcement to release the oil reserves comes at a crucial time to Americans, whose peak driving season begins during the vacation months of July and August. The United States, which is by far the world's largest consumer of oil, typically pays much higher gasoline prices than the prices caused by the crisis in Libya (Banerjee).
New Yorkers have been especially prone to the higher gas prices after seeing a 36% increase from this time last year. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), applauded the move. "The last thing we need is for gasoline prices to continue to skyrocket," she said. "This release will stabilize gas prices and provide crucial relief to families here in New York and across the country" (Shahid). .
"This is about addressing supply disruptions and their potential impact on global economic growth," said a senior administration official in the conference following the announcement (Banerjee). .
The government has been slow to tap into these oil reserves, which hold approximately 727 million barrels along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. The reserve was originally created in response to the Arab oil embargo four years ago and is typically only used in emergency cases, like hurricanes. The last time the reserve was tapped into was in 2008 after Hurricane Gustav (Shahid). .
While the general public supports the decision, many other members in office believe the matters should have been dealt with differently. Republican's, who have been pushing measures to accelerate domestic oil exploration, disagree with Obama's choice. .
"It's hard to believe that the administration would rather tap into our emergency supply than support legislation to produce and develop North American supplies," said Representative Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee (Power). .
Other members of Obama's party want to see a reduction in the demand for oil rather than a release of more oil.