PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Warning that high gas prices have "placed an undue burden on families and small businesses trying to make ends meet," Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and 10 of his fellow Democrats are calling on President Biden to intervene by tapping into the country's emergency oil supply.
But releasing barrels of crude from the cache would provide neither dramatic nor long-term relief, according to two top experts.
Gas prices are the highest they've been in seven years. This week, the national average price of a gallon of regular hit $3.42, an increase of more than 60 percent from a year ago.
According to AAA, it's even more expensive in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs, at $3.58 a gallon.
"In light of these pressing concerns, we ask that you consider all tools available at your disposal to lower US gasoline prices," Casey and his colleagues wrote in a letter to the president.
"This includes a release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and a ban on crude oil exports."
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Were Biden to do what the Democrats suggest, how much savings could we see?
"Not much," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. "Because oil prices are determined by global supply and demand, it would only offer temporary relief."
That's echoed by Tom Kloza, the global head of energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service.
"When it comes down to it, presidents don't have really that many levers to pull," he said.
"Beyond diplomacy, nudging, and perhaps some horse trading between the U.S., some of the Persian Gulf countries, and even Russia, there really aren't a lot of things a president can do."
Even as Biden has pledged to shift the U.S. away from fossil fuels, he has pressed OPEC to increase significantly the production of crude, blaming higher consumer prices on the cartel's refusal.
In an August letter to the president, two dozen Senate Republicans accused Biden of talking out of both sides of his mouth.
"It is astonishing that your Administration is now seeking assistance from an international oil cartel when America has sufficient domestic supply and reserves to increase output which would reduce gasoline prices," the letter read.
"The best and most effective way to reduce the cost of gasoline at the pump is to unleash clean, affordable and reliable American energy."
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In his attempts both to fight climate change and reduce pricing pressures on drivers, Kloza says Biden finds himself in a tough spot.
"The president has to be careful," Kloza said.
"It's one thing to be for de-carbonization and to acknowledge global warming. It's another thing to ask for more oil because we need it now. And it seems very disingenuous. He's in a tough spot."
It's not just national politics; state and societal pressures are also having an impact.
"In California and New York, pension systems have divested massive holdings in fossil fuel companies," De Haan said.
"As a result, oil companies have realized they need to incentivize shareholders to stick around, so they've been using their profits for buybacks and dividends instead of putting the profits back into increasing oil production."
He believes the second idea floated by Senate Democrats, banning American oil exports in an attempt to flood the U.S. market and lower the cost of crude, would backfire.
"I think very quickly oil companies would be disincentivized to produce that oil," he says, adding it would lead to a temporary glut "until US oil companies simply curb production."
We know too well in our area the added pain of state gas taxes: Pennsylvania and New Jersey have the third- and fourth-highest rates in the country, respectively, at more than $.50 a gallon.
While there's nothing the White House can do about that, it could lower the federal gas tax, but that's just over $.18 per gallon and hasn't budged since 1993.
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One idea has garnered bipartisan support, at least among senators in the Northeastern US and on the West Coast: killing the biofuel mandate. Sens. Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) and Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania) have introduced a bill to end the blend of ethanol in gas.
Supporters say that could shave $.30 off the cost of a gallon. But Midwestern lawmakers, bolstered by the farm lobby, are putting up a fierce fight against any changes harming corn considerations in the Renewable Fuel Standard.
And there's always next year -- maybe.
"As we progress into 2022, we may see some level of relief," De Haan says.
"As long as the surge in consumer demand for gas eases and the global economy returns to normal, we may start to see additional oil production returning. But Americans are going to be stuck with high gas prices for the immediate and short-term future."
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