How Are American States ‘Running Out’ of Fuel?

While the United States continues to endure elevated fuel prices, California recently signaled that it may be just weeks away from a legitimate energy crisis. But how exactly does a net oil exporter, like the U.S., even run into a situation where there’s not enough gasoline for domestic residents?Earlier this month, California Energy Commission Vice Chair Siva Gunda told an oversight assembly pertaining to energy and utilities that the state had a sufficient fuel supply to last another six weeks. This implies that, should nothing change, gasoline and diesel shortages could worsen and further drive up prices. In a worse case scenario, this could even result in the kinds of shortages not seen since the 1973 Oil Crisis. News outlets took the premise and ran with it, claiming that California was on the cusp of running out of fuel. While the state’s Energy Commission did not go quite that far, that’s still effectively what’s being claimed. Gunda noted that it wouldn’t be unrea …