Energy secretary guardedly optimistic about gas prices

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Sunday that the Biden administration is hopeful gas prices will continue to fall but noted that some factors remain beyond its control.

"If China opens up significantly after Covid, there will be more pressure on demand," she said. "More pressure on demand means upward pressure on prices. So, we're watching what happens globally. But we are doing everything possible to try to stabilize supply and demand to keep those prices coming down."

Speaking to host Trace Gallagher on "Fox News Sunday," Granholm said President Joe Biden had taken significant steps to increase America's supply of gasoline.

"This president has moved in dramatic ways to increase supply," she said. "By releasing 1 million barrels per day from our reserve, as well as calling on domestic producers, as well as international producers. We will be at record amounts of production next year."

Spiking gas prices had driven inflation in the United States for months, but they have been in decline in recent weeks, with average prices falling back below $4 per gallon. Granholm said she expects prices to continue to drift down, but she noted that there is only so much the United States can do to actually control the situation.

"As you know, gasoline comes from oil. Oil is traded on a global market. So we are at the whim, if you will, of what happens globally," the former Michigan governor said.

Granholm also discussed the potential benefits of the new Inflation Reduction Act, pushing back on suggestions that incentives in the bill only benefit those who don't need it. Biden signed the legislation last week.

She said that the newly designed incentives for electric vehicles will not only help people buy those cars but also, because of the way the law is written, encourage manufacturing in the United States.

"Additional restrictions will kick in starting in January, requiring domestic content. Meaning that the materials, the supplies for those vehicles, will also have to be built in America," she said.

"Why is this important? Because the president has said that we need to manufacture stuff in America — that we can't rely on countries that don't share our values."

Granholm also pushed back on Gallagher's suggestion that solar technology is not reliable enough to depend on at this point.

"The technology is there. We just need to make sure it is implemented," she said.