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Remember the theme song for "The Beverly Hillbillies"?  "..up through the ground came some bubbling crude..". Oil, let's talk about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  It was originally established in 1974 to protect the US from SEVERE disruptions in the global oil supply.  Originally, the capacity was roughly 724,000,000 barrels.  The current maximum is roughly 714,000,000 million barrels.  On March 19, 2020 Trump ordered the DOE to fill it up to support domestic producers.  As a member of the International Energy Agency we are required to maintain a reserve of 90 days of our net oil imports (maybe a total of 180,000,000 barrels).  We have the largest reserve of any country. The idea was to fill it when prices were low.You still with me? It may get a little more wonky.  As of March 25th the Reserve contained 568,000,000 barrels. Throughout it's history since inception the reserve has been tapped by Presidential orders due to national emergencies (hurricanes, middle east wars etc).  Since 2015 Congress has passed at least 7 bills mandating sales totalling 271,000,000 barrels along with other sales based on dollars rather than barrels.  The DOE sells the oil through unadvertised sales.Our current President has ordered the release of roughly 263,000,000 barrels since he entered office 14 months ago.  This is a far higher release figure than has ever been authorized in such a short period.  Between the President's release, and the Congressionally mandated sales, we may be looking at a level of only 380,000,000 barrels (19 days) at current consumption.  The really sad conclusion is that this release is all about the politics/optics, not an emergency. It is really dependent on the price the government sets for the sale. The experts say that at most it would lower the gas price by 35¢ a gallon.  Will that really make a difference in your budget?  What are we as a country being set up for, China, Iran or maybe just another lockdown?In my opinion, we as a country need to demand our government back off their new regulations and mandates when it comes to oil.  If we can supply LNG to assist Europe we sure as heck can provide oil for our own consumption!  Stop throwing "green" energy in my face.  If you look into the production of the necessary components (batteries, solar panels, wind generators, electrical transformers etc) it isn't clean or green at all!Please take the time to research some of the "big" things we are facing as a nation!  Speak up and prepare!