Donald Trump spoke at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump filed his candidacy papers with the US election authority moments before he was due to make a public announcement. The photo was taken by ALON SKUY/
Donald Trump announced last night that he is going to run for president in 2024. In the speech announcing his candidacy, Trump made a number of questionable claims.
Trump claimed that he had filled up the SPR but Biden had drained it.
This is not the first time Trump has claimed this. Trump issued a statement after Biden announced the largest release in history.
After 50 years of being virtually empty, I built up our oil reserves during my time in office. It hasn't been full for a long time. It has been largely empty.
I addressed this claim at the time.
The data from the EIA shows that when Trump took office in January of last year, the SPR had 695 million barrels. Four years after he left office, the SPR had over half a billion barrels of liquid. During President Trump's time in office, the level of the SPR fell. This can be seen in the chart below.
There are strategic oil reserve inventories.
The first part of Trumps claim is easily disproved by the chart. During the early stages of the Covid-19 epidemic, Trump wanted to top off the SPR. But, as I pointed out previously. Democrats in congress blocked the directive. When the directive was issued, the SPR was at its highest ever level. It was obvious that it wasn't filled during Trump's time in office.
The second part of the claim, what about it? Is the president draining the SPR? There is a piece of truth to that. The level of the SPR has been cut by Biden. Some might argue that Biden has drained the level of the SPR, but it's true.
There is a reason for Biden to be criticized for using the SPR. The purpose of the SPR is to protect against oil supply disruptions and reduce U.S. security against them. If we have a true emergency where we need that oil, it's not a good idea to deplete the SPR.
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