Statewide Iowa — Iowans are paying over a dollar a gallon more for gasoline now than they were a year ago, and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, blames the Democrat in the White House.
Grassley says he’s introduced a bipartisan bill to combat anti-competitive practices by foreign oil producers who control 82-percent of the world’s oil reserve, namely OPEC.
Grassley says, “Biden has made clear he’s not a friend of domestic oil producers,” while crude oil prices have doubled since the 2020 election. The president is “scrambling,” Grassley says, to bring relief to consumers, but is going about it the wrong way.
Grassley says the president pleaded with OPEC to reduce prices and to increase production and in Grassley’s words, OPEC told Biden to “go pound sand.” Grassley’s legislation is called NOPEC which stands for the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act.
Grassley says if the administration insists on limiting domestic oil production, the U-S should at least have the tools to hold OPEC accountable for anti competitive products and conduct. Triple A Iowa reports gas prices in the state are averaging $3.15 a gallon, up from $2.02 a year ago. The national average is $3.38. The price in Sheldon as of Wednesday morning was $3.19 per gallon.
