Biden seeks a crosswalk between oil and clean energy

Two White House initiatives unveiled on Thursday show how President Biden is struggling to navigate an oil supply crunch without letting his clean energy goals blow even further off-course.Catch up fast: Biden announced the release of up to 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and urged U.S. producers to speed up tepid production growth, too.But he’s also invoking executive security powers under the Defense Production Act to try to speed U.S. production of key minerals used in electric car batteries and clean power projects.Why it matters: The Russian war has forced a president who wants to hasten the transition away from fossil fuels toward embracing more oil production and natural gas exports.It’s an effort to lower U.S. gasoline prices, which are a political vulnerability for Democrats, and help Europe curb reliance on Russian gas supplies.What they’re…

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