Biden tapping oil reserve for 6 months to control gas prices

President Joe Biden is ordering the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve for six months, the White House said Thursday, in a bid to control energy prices that have spiked after the U.S. And allies imposed steep sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The White House said Biden is also calling on Congress to impose financial penalties on oil and gas companies that lease public lands but aren’t producing.

And he intends to invoke the Defense Production Act to encourage the mining of critical minerals for batteries in electric vehicles, part of a broader push to shift toward cleaner energy sources and reduce the use of fossil fuels.