Fuel prices have exploded throughout the US since Donald Trump began his war on Iran. According to the Center for American Progress, gas and diesel prices are 43 and 68 percent higher, respectively, as of October 22 compared to when the war began nearly eight months ago.
On February 27, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas was just $2.98. Now, it’s $4.27 — a devastating burden for consumers in a nation built to run on crude oil.
Though the rise in fuel costs throughout the world can be traced back to retaliatory fuel embargoes imposed by the Iranian military in the Strait of Hormuz and Houthi militants in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Trump and his cronies have another explanation for the American people: environmental regulations.
During a political rally in Lubbock, Texas on Tuesday, Trump announced yet another massive rollback of environmental regulations, originally imposed by the Biden administration to clamp down on polluting methane corporations.
“Tonight, I’m officially terminating Biden’s expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers,” Trump told throngs of reporters, according to the Guardian. In doing so, the president says he’s ending the “crippling regulations on methane that caused prices to skyrocket” across the nation.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin swiftly put out an effusive statement praising his bosses’ decision to “end the war on oil and natural gas,” referring to the Biden administration’s oil and natural gas regulations passed under the Clean Air Act.
The real kicker is how little Trump’s rollbacks will actually do for American consumers, while simultaneously enabling the worst excesses of the oil and gas corporations. In his press release, Zeldin noted the move is expected to “unleash an estimated 210 million barrels of oil,” which the Guardian notes is equivalent to just ten days of US petroleum consumption. In other words, any financial relief from the deregulatory move will be short lived for American consumers.
The revision is also opening doors for some of the worst air polluters operating in the US, as the publication Grist observed. According to the outlet, the kind of methane emissions represented by Trump’s rollbacks make up about 12 percent of the greenhouse gases generated by the US, which is around 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to its impact on global warming over a 20-year span.
“Cutting methane emissions from the oil and gas industry is the fastest way to fight climate change,” project manager at the Environmental Defense Fund Tsion Amare told Grist. “This rule could severely set back the advances we’ve made over the years.”
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