[matthewdgreen]

The SPR was created during an era when the US was an oil importer, fundamentally dependent on foreign supply. That’s no longer the case, thanks largely to the shale industry. So the national security calculus is completely different: instead the SPR is mainly an economic tool designed to buffer our economy against global price shocks during times of foreign turmoil, which is exactly the use-case it was just put to when Russia invaded Ukraine and global prices spiked. It should be refilled now, absolutely. But it is not a matter of national security anymore.