Questions about U.S. oil production? We provide answers In a moment of national unity against Russia's attack on Ukraine, Democrats and Republicans are fighting passionately over the steep increase in the cost of gasoline. Prices have already risen sharply since Biden became president — and he acknowledged that his ban on Russian oil and gas exports could send them even higher. Figuring out the root causes of inflation is subject to interpretation. Biden has been quick to claim that it's mostly the result of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, tagging the latest inflation report as "Putin's price hike." But a credible case has also been made by some economists, including former treasury secretary Lawrence Summers and former Obama treasury official Steven Rattner, that the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan passed by Congress helped spark the current rise in prices across the board. A separate debate is taking place over U.S. oil production and whether Biden administration policies have played a role. Partisans on all sides, as is often the case, are misrepresenting the facts, obscuring the complicated truth about oil production, gas prices and the role of renewables. We produced a guide to the issue, answering questions about why gasoline prices have soared overnight. (Many gasoline stations have only two or three days of product in stock, and so price gasoline at what it will cost to refill those tanks underground. This is an economic term known as "replacement cost." Every $10 increase in the price of crude oil adds about 24 cents to the cost of each gallon of gasoline and is quickly reflected in what you pay at the pump. It's not an example of price gouging.) We also explain that the oil business in the United States is run by private companies, not the U.S. government. It's also a cyclical business and oil prices have been low for some time and drilling has also been low. Please read our full report. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Did you hear something fact-checkable? Send it here; we'll check it out. No, Putin is not secretly funding a California environmental charity Every Republican member of the House Energy Committee signed a letter demanding answers from three environmental groups — the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Sierra Club — on whether they have received funding from Russia or China and whether any funding from Sea Change, an environmental philanthropy, was used for anti-fracking advocacy. "Provided the public reporting of Putin's dark money influence in Europe and the concerns surrounding similar efforts in the United States, we write today to explore your connections with Sea Change," the letter said. "Any action by President Putin, the Russian government, or Putin's allies to undermine American energy security must be addressed." But upon inspection, the allegations crumbled into dust. The flimsiest of dots are connected to make a case. For years, it's been clear that Sea Change Foundation has no connection to secret Russian money. After all, the foundation is associated with one of the world's richest families. What is even more astonishing is that, regular as clockwork, Republicans have been making these bogus claims every few years, even after credible explanations have been given. We dug deep into the facts of the case and awarded Four Pinocchios. We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP and @AdriUsero) or Facebook. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. | 
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