President Joe Biden delivered a stern message to oil and gas companies on Wednesday, warning them not to raise prices amid the storm.
“Do not, let me repeat, do not use this as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American people,” Biden said at the start of a conference on hunger in America.
Biden said that the hurricane “provides no excuse for price increases at the pump” and if it happens, he will ask federal officials to determine ”whether price gauging is going on.”
“America is watching. The industry should do the right thing,” Biden added.
Biden also noted that experts told his administration only 2 percent of U.S. daily oil production will be impacted in the short-term by Hurricane Ian, reports ABC News.
Gas prices going back up and hurricane doesn’t help
It may be that a hurricane is just a coincidence, but according to The Hill, after a 60-day slump in prices, the cost of a gallon of gas is quickly approaching $4 a gallon nationwide.
However, experts say Mother Nature could send prices back up in a hurry as the Gulf Coast’s hurricane season picks up.
Willie Vance, who lives in Macon, Georgia says, “It’s gone up a lot.” Vance commutes to Atlanta for work. He says he was at this particular gas station on Sardis Church Road a week ago and the price of gas was $2.77.
“It’s done gone up to $3.09, or something like that,” he explains to 13WMAZ.com. “That’s the way it’s probably going to head and that’s wrong. The price– the prices are already high enough– they don’t need to hike up the prices.”
There are very few signs that average gas prices have jumped significantly in Florida as the hurricane began to approach. AAA put the statewide average at just under $3.40 a gallon, six-tenths of a cent higher than a week ago.
President Biden, who has seen gas prices drag down his approvals, took a victory lap on Wednesday, tweeting, “More than half of all gas stations across the United States now offer gas for less than $4 a gallon.”
