House Republicans push misleading claims about gas prices

House Republicans have gone on the offensive of late, criticizing the White House over the fact that gasoline prices have returned to pre-pandemic levels.

“Gas prices have increased every day for 27 days. Some Americans are paying $7.59 a gallon,” Texas Rep. Brian Babin tweeted on Wednesday. “ANOTHER crisis created by this president and his anti-energy agenda. #BidenEnergyCrisis”

“Americans are feeling the burden of rising prices for gas and energy… Gallon of gas has reached $7.59 a gallon in parts of the country,” warned Tennessee Rep. Diana Harshbarger. “#Bidenomics is real as winter approaches.”

Several other Republican House members echoed those sentiments, citing the $7.59 figure.

The plural “parts of America” would suggest that this is the price at many gas stations. In reality it is the price at a single station, one that Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for the app GasBuddy, told SFGate is likely the “priciest gas station in the country.”

The $7.59 gas price was spotted last week at the “remote” coastal community of Gorda, California, according to Los Angeles ABC affiliate KABC-TV. The station reportedly has a reputation for charging among the nation’s highest gas prices, with no other fueling locations around for miles.

That price is more than double the current national average — $3.401 per gallon for unleaded, according to AAA — and is several dollars above California’s $4.588 state average.

SFGate noted that gas prices in the Bay Area had been especially high in recent months due to refinery issues and labor shortages.

The GOP’s criticism appears to be part of an ongoing effort to blame Biden for blocking a permit for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, a potentially disastrous project that experts say would have opened up several regions in the country to the threat of devastating oil spills.

While the average price per gallon is higher than the low prices seen earlier in the pandemic — when some places dipped as low as $1.80 last April, with few people traveling anywhere — they began to rise under then-President Donald Trump in the fall of 2020 and have continued to increase ever since as demand returns.

Republicans rolled out a similar line of attack against the Obama administration, blaming Democrats at the time for the $3.64-per-gallon average price.

Despite their frustrations over gas prices, many Republicans have been stubbornly opposed to any efforts to make clean energy alternatives more affordable.

The GOP has unanimously opposed Biden’s Build Back Better plan, for instance, which would invest $555 billion in climate change and clean energy infrastructure. Almost every Republican opposes the $550 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which would invest in electric vehicles and clean energy grids.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.