The United States is facing a severe diesel shortage, the U.S. Energy Information Administration recently warned, with less than 25 days of supply left. What is the Biden administration planning to do about that in order to avert the economy completely crashing? White House spokesman John Kirby didn’t have an answer but reiterated the U.S.’s efforts to help Europe address its own energy crisis.
“What are we doing to increase the supply of diesel given that the Energy Information Administration said as of October 14 the U.S. only had about a 25-day supply,” asked Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich. “You have the Northeast and New York already rationing home heating oil. What are we doing to prepare for the winter and to ramp up supply of diesel?”
"I’ll take the question on the diesel, because I just don’t have the data on that in front of me. So let me take that, and we’ll get back to you on that," he responded.
"But — but writ large, the President has been working very, very hard to make sure that we’re — that not only are we ready for fluctuations that could come — and, of course, the prices are going down, and we think that’s important — but that we are also doing what we can to help our European friends and partners who are also going to be facing a long, cold winter," Kirby continued.
"We have doubled our commitment. The commitment he made in March for natural gas exports to Europe, we’ve doubled that commitment in terms of actual — you know, getting things over there, getting natural gas over there. And we are working with foreign suppliers of natural gas and oil to see if we can help our European partners diversify their own storage and supplies.
"Many of them are, in fact, building up their storage capability here for the winter. Some are farther along than others. And we’re working closely with them bilaterally and multilaterally to see what we can do to help that," he added.
"But I will owe you a question on the diesel."
As Fox News’s Tucker Carlson noted, without diesel nothing in America can run—trucks, trains, barges, farming equipment, generators, and more.
“[T]hen inevitably, our economy will crash because everything runs on diesel fuel—not on solar panels, not on wind farms, on diesel fuel. Diesel is not a negotiable commodity. You have to have diesel,” he said.
Putting matters in perspective, New York Magazine said the last time diesel supply was this critically low, “there were about 3.5 billion fewer people on the planet.”
Even more concerning, Carlson said, is that Kirby didn’t appear fazed in the least.
“He has no idea and he's not embarrassed that he has no idea. The problem is at this point, there may not be an answer because there may not be a way to avoid a disaster. Diesel fuel is not just low in this country. It's low in every Western nation that is aligned itself with Ukraine.”
Tucker Carlson - America could run out of Diesel within 25 days pic.twitter.com/qL1bdE1fIE
— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2023) October 28, 2022
The biggest crisis that nobody is talking about is the US diesel crisis.
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) October 26, 2022
The United States has 25 days of diesel left.
— Congressman Troy Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) October 26, 2022
The day the trucks stop running is the day the economy crashes.
And it’s not getting better anytime soon.