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'The price of gas is going through the roof in a whole bunch of places.'

After a reprieve driven by cooperation with the White House in the wake of Hurricane Ian, Gov. Ron DeSantis is beginning to sharpen his critiques of American energy policy again.

During a Tuesday press conference in Fort Myers, DeSantis described domestic oil capacity as having been “neutered intentionally,” his sharpest condemnation of President Joe Biden’s approach since Hurricane Ian struck Southwest Florida last month.

DeSantis is warning that gas prices “could go up substantially given all the dynamics that we’re seeing, particularly with OPEC+ cutting production, and of course our own production has been neutered intentionally, which is not I think a very good decision.”

“The price of gas is going through the roof in a whole bunch of places,” DeSantis contended, decrying “pain at the pump” as inevitable given pressures in the oil market.

DeSantis again on Tuesday touted the state’s one-month gas tax holiday saving drivers 25.3 cents a gallon, saying Tuesday that Florida has “the fourth lowest gas prices in the United States.”

He has been compelled all month to balance celebrating the gas tax holiday with warnings about energy costs.

“I actually saw it at $2.99,” DeSantis said last week in Nokomis. “I have not seen it under three dollars in a long time. Certainly, I don’t think, since Jan. 20 a year and a half ago.”

Despite the gas tax relief, Florida is still feeling the brunt of increased costs.

Florida gas prices jumped 16 cents last week, from a 2022 low of $3.17 per gallon on Wednesday. It’s the largest weekly increase since June, according to AAA — The Auto Club Group.

Before Hurricane Ian was a concern, DeSantis often unleashed brutal critiques of Biden energy policy.

“So, the question is about gas prices and inflation, you know what I could do, if you could give me a time machine to go back to January 2021, we would just do the opposite of what Biden has done, and we’d be in a better spot,” said DeSantis in June.

DeSantis said Biden imposed “really negative policies to try to kneecap American energy production. And of course, that’s been a huge driver as to why we now have gas higher than we have ever seen it before in my lifetime in this country.”

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Florida Politics staff contributed to this report.

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8 comments

Joe Corsin
October 11, 2022 at 2:47 pm

False information. He should be sued for defamation…
- Charlotte Greenbarg
  October 11, 2022 at 2:49 pm
  
  🤡🦜
  - Elliott Offen
    October 11, 2022 at 4:29 pm
    
    Demand was low during the pandemic therefore prices were artificially low. So technically the conditions for all this inflation started under Trump. He sat on his balls and cheered while the economy overheated. As usual, Dems can’t clean up GOP messes fast enough. Been happening for decades. You people are fking idiots.
- Impeach Biden
  October 11, 2022 at 3:07 pm
  
  We were energy independent and then Dumb and Dumber took over along with clueless Jennnifer Granholm as Sec Energy.
  - Mr. Haney
    October 11, 2022 at 3:11 pm
    
    Keep trying moron. The US is the largest oil producer on the planet.
  - PeterH
    October 11, 2022 at 3:39 pm
    
    We were energy independent in the middle of COVID when the demand was limited. No one was traveling by automobile and jet travel was cut in half.
Mr. Haney
October 11, 2022 at 3:13 pm

DeSantis is another Republican moron and proves it with this statement. And since DeSantis is such an expert on production of anything, why isn’t he producing something useful and making billions?
PeterH
October 11, 2022 at 3:37 pm

In January 2021 we were in the throws of COVID and Americans were not traveling so they were not using fossil fuels. It’s called supply and demand DeSantis! When demand is high …. the price of gasoline is high.

Trump lowered gasoline prices by releasing crude from our national reserves. He promised to replenish the reserves when the price per barrel was low…… but of course he never delivered on his promise.

If DeSantis wants American petroleum companies to produce more….. he better nationalize the production. No one is neutering production. American oil companies have over 1000 unexplored sites to research and drill.