FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — With gas prices still hovering in the $3.30-$3.85/gallon range, and the rate of inflation remaining high, Kentucky’s Republican senators are calling on Governor Andy Beshear and President Joe Biden to do something to help the situation.
“We know we have coal, and we know we have oil and gas. It’s a silly argument to be blocking that from getting into the market,” said State Senator, Brandon Smith from Kentucky’s 30th district.
Senator Smith wrote the Governor a letter. In it, he outlines the numerous ways senate Republicans feel would alleviate the inflation issue and reduce gas prices. Mr. Beshear responded to that letter during his weekly media briefing before the senators spoke.
“He (Senator Smith) talks in that letter about gas prices,” the governor said. “He tries to say the governor can impact gas prices, which most members of the General Assembly said we couldn’t months ago,” he continued.
Senate President Robert Stivers, from Kentucky’s 25th District, also addressed the issue during Thursday’s media conference.
“When you start slowing down the permitting process (of tapping into our oil reserves and production of oil), the other global producers know, wait a minute, we’re going to capture the market and we can jack up our prices, and that’s what’s happened to us,” Senator Stivers explained.
But as Stivers and his Republican colleagues know, the war in Ukraine, a return to normalcy following pandemic restrictions, and the historically low unemployment rate have also played a role in the price of gas, and the rate of inflation. Not to mention, the several interest rate increases handed down from the Federal Reserve over the last few months.
“I agree, no one thing is going to drive the market,” Senator Stivers said. “But things can have a bigger impact. Where we were 4 or 5 years ago of having enough energy produced in the United States to cover our own energy needs, the total market would change,” he continued.
Mr. Stivers was asked about the time in April 2020, just as the pandemic was reaching America when former President Donald Trump made a decision to have Russia and Saudi Arabia cut oil production. Stivers said it had little to no impact on what we’re experiencing now because back then we could sustain ourselves.
“We are not in that universe now,” he said.
Kentucky’s GOP senators would like for the Governor to call President Biden to see about getting us back into that universe.
