OPINION:
In the late 1970s I was part of a Parsons Corporation team managing construction of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Texas and Louisiana. The oil is stored in salt caverns and the capacity of the reserve is approximately 1 billion barrels.
Typically, reserves stand at about 800-plus million barrels and the reserves are to be used only in times of stringent oil market conditions, such as those caused by an OPEC embargo (which occurred in the 1970s). The Biden administration has authorized the release of the the reserve oil to keep oil prices low. As a result, we now have a reserve of just over 400 million barrels, the lowest number in history (“Biden’s ‘teachable moment’ on fossil fuels,” Web, Sept. 25).
This policy is seriously irresponsible and the reserve should be restored to its pre-existing levels at the earliest possible time.
BOB JACK
Harrison, Tennessee
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