White House Gaslights The Shortage Crisis In Southern States

White House press secretary Jen Psaki addressed the impacts of the Colonial Pipeline shutdown by flip-flopping between admitting and denying a supply shortage and said the administration used appropriate language in each moment.

On Monday President Biden’s homeland security adviser, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall informed reporters “Right now there is not a supply shortage.”

“We are monitoring supply shortages in parts of the Southeast and are evaluating every action the Administration can take to mitigate the impact as much as possible,” Psaki said.

The next day, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm refused to acknowledge the shortage, saying instead that there was a “supply crunch.”

“It’s not that we have a gasoline shortage. It’s that we have this supply crunch and that things will be back to normal soon and that we’re asking people not to hoard and know that we are all over this.”

“We know that we have gasoline. We just have to get it to the right places,” the secretary continued.

However, the EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg both called the lack of gasoline at the pumps is indeed a “shortage.”

Colonial Pipeline, which transports 45% of fuel used on the East Coast, shut down its entire operation Friday after a ransomware attack, in which hackers typically lock up computer systems by encrypting data, paralyzing networks, and demand a large ransom to unscramble it. The FBI has assigned blame to criminal group DarkSide, whose group members are Russian speakers. Russia has denied involvement in the attack.

Psaki punted on a question of whether Colonial Pipeline paid the ransom. “The guidance from the FBI is not to do that,” Psaki said while directing questions toward the company.

“I will say that there is advice and guidance we get from the federal government because we know this incentivizes additional attacks,” she said. “That is guidance that’s given from the FBI. But this is a private sector company, and I would refer you to them for any questions about what they have or have not paid.”

Do not fill plastic bags with gasoline.

— US Consumer Product Safety Commission (@USCPSC) May 12, 2021

The EPA has issued a temporary fuel waiver lifting environmental protection standards and the Department of Transportation waived hours requirements which allow truckers to take fuel to affected states beyond the daily limit of 100 hours.