Electric Vehicles
US Would Trade Reserve Oil for Profit, Invest in EVs Under Democrats’ Bill
- Legislation also would create US gasoline and diesel stockpile
- DOE would have flexibility over Strategic Petroleum Reserve
A contractor works on crude oil pipelines at the Bryan Mound Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas.
Photographer: Luke SharrettThis article is for subscribers only.
Democrats are pitching a plan that would allow the US government to buy and sell crude from its emergency reserves for a profit and use that money to fund electric-car charging infrastructure.
Under the so-called Buy Low and Sell High Act introduced Monday, the Energy Department would be allotted more freedom to make sales and purchases of as many as 350 million barrels for the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to maximize profits. The amount -- equivalent to almost half the stockpile’s current physical capacity -- would be earmarked for swift transactions and designated a new “Economic Petroleum Reserve.”