Diesel Crisis: Wars, Anti-Fossil Policies Fuel Record-High Prices
America is facing an unprecedented diesel crisis, with prices reaching record highs. The dominant fuel for heavy-duty vehicles and heating oil in many Northeast homes, diesel is essential to our economy. A year ago, US diesel averaged $3.66 a gallon, but it recently hit $6.53 a gallon, an 80% increase.
Other countries are experiencing even more pain, with Australia paying around $7/gallon and the UK and France paying over $10/gallon. The short-term cause of this crisis is the lack of supply due to wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, which have taken out an estimated 30-50 million gallons/day of diesel from the market.
The long-term cause is decades of anti-fossil-fuel policies that have led to a decline in refining capacity. If the US had increased its refining abilities, it could have become a diesel superpower and supplied excess fuel to other countries. However, this opportunity was squandered through anti-fossil-fuel policies, including Biden's opposition to fossil fuels and state bans on diesel vehicles.