I’m headed to a local gas station to ask drivers what they think about the price they're paying.
“The price right now - they are going up. For us, for the people that hardly make a living, it's kinda hard, you know,” a man told me as he sat in his Toyota pickup.
A year ago, as the pandemic had still slowed our economy, we were paying about $2.60 for a gallon of regular in Las Vegas. Today we’re paying, on average, almost $4 a gallon.
The man with the pickup just spent $60 dollars filling up his tank.
“Three, four, five months ago I used to spend $35. Now I'm paying double,” he told me.
Stories like this look bad, especially for a White House dealing with inflation on all sorts of items and a President whose poll numbers are dropping. Gas prices, especially, are a potent problem because their prices are plastered on signs all over any American city.
Which is why the President today asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate big oil. He wants to know why gas prices remain high, even while he says costs to oil and gas companies are dropping.
“For some weird reason, the wholesale prices of gasoline have dropped and the retail prices haven't dropped as much. And so the question: what is going on there? Can we just keep our eye on the ball to make sure there's not any gaming of the system,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told me from Washington Wednesday.
The oil industry says it is not "gaming the system." It says demand in our recovering economy is outstripping supply. It also blames the Biden Administration for, as it claims, restricting access to America's energy supply in order to fight climate change.
“That's absolutely false. Absolutely false. There are 23 million acres of public lands that the oil and gas companies have the leases on, on and offshore, that they are not using. 23 million acres. Over nine thousand leases that have been stockpiled and are not being used,” Granholm told me.
“Even though oil is priced now at over $80 a barrelthe US producers have not turned their rigs back on,” she adds.
As for the President, “he wants to increase supply overall. He’s asked for OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) to do that. He’s asked for the domestic producers to do that,” says Granholm.
“This is a short-term strategy. Because ultimately the long-term strategy is to build-out clean energy, electrified vehicles etc., but we’re not there yet. This is a transition and we won’t want anyone hurt in the meantime,” she tells me.
Granholm tells me forecasts show gas prices easing in the next month or so as global supply catches up.
Republicans have been very critical of President Biden’s handling of rising prices, both gas and otherwise.
“American families are facing record-setting costs for everyday goods, from gas to groceries, yet Joe Biden continues to push for trillions of dollars in wasteful spending,” says Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel.
In the meantime, back at the pump, “they're ridiculous. I feel like they need to be down,” one lady told me about prices as she filled up her car.
“Just know that the President is all over this. He recognizes the pain people are feeling at the pump,” says Granholm.