The Trump administration in its budget proposes to sell off half of the country’s strategic reserve of crude oil. The idea is that putting more than 300 million barrels of energy onto the market could raise more than $16 billion over the course of a decade. Proponents note that the oil market is more open, and the U.S. produces more of its own crude than in the 1970s, when the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created. As for the thinking behind keeping up a big oil stockpile? We are still very much an oil-dependent nation, and our domestic supply doesn’t meet domestic demand.

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