Much of it is now corporate greed. During the 1st year of the pandemic demand for fuel bottomed and prices did as well. U.S. petroleum companies were hemorrhaging money and as a result they cut tons of workers and stopped new drilling. With gas at $5+ a gallon they are making, as per usual, obscene amounts of profit. They are now unwilling to reinvest in workers or new drills to reap profits, content to make us more dependent on an increase in foreign oil imports. ***** actually opened more areas for drilling, no takers. Some take anything and make it part of their political agenda. This is not political, ***** could have done no more about it than this administration, the bonus with the current administration is that there hasn’t been an attack on our democratic system of government.