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President Joe Biden on Wednesday afternoon said his administration had been in “very, very close contact with Colonial Pipeline” and there would be “some good news” in the next 24 hours on the company’s East Coast fuel artery.
“I think we’ll be getting that under control,” Biden said,
On Tuesday, the Biden administration said Colonial Pipeline would be in a position to make a “full restart decision” by the close of business on Wednesday as it aims to restore service substantially for its system by the end of the week following a shutdown due to a cyberattack.
Earlier Wednesday, other Biden administration figures talked up their response to the Colonial Pipeline attack, with officials changing their tune after Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday said there wasn’t a gasoline shortage, but rather a supply crunch.
“We understand that there are shortages resulting from the Colonial Pipeline shutdown that cause stress and confusion in people’s lives,” Environmental Protection Agency Michael Regan told reporters during a briefing.
When asked about the average price for gasoline topping $3 a gallon, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the administration appreciates Americans’ concerns.
“We’ve seen that in a lot of the impacted geographies that this is a real issue, and that’s one of the reasons why we’ve been working with every lever of government that’s available,” Buttigieg said.
Read more: U.S. retail gas prices top $3 a gallon for the first time in over 6 years
And see: GasBuddy jumps to No.1 download on Apple’s App Store
Former President Donald Trump criticized Biden in statements on Wednesday, saying there was a “Biden Gas Crisis.” He also said: “If there were long and horrible gas lines like this under President Trump, the Fake News would make it a national outrage!”
U.S. stocks
SPX,
DJIA,
closed sharply lower Wednesday, with the Dow shedding nearly 700 points, as a reading on inflation reignited fears that the Federal Reserve may dial back its easy-money policies earlier than expected.
