Each a scorching essay of their own.

For votes? Yup. But also an attempt at market manipulation. It is more the perception than the actual product. Which of course still has to be transported, refined to get the 20% that is gasoline, then transported again. That's the real bottleneck.

Gas prices are whatever the market will bear. Gas companies like to test this economic theory in times of stress. Until they run out of storage space.

And about the leases thing. Fine with me to free them up. But just because land is leased does not mean there is oil and gas down there. You have to lease to explore. It's a gamble. All earth extraction business is a gamble. Or a con. Gets hard to tell sometimes. Companies will hold leases that they know have nothing because it looks good in the glossy shareholder annual report brochure.

Now, as far as stategic materials are concerned... that's another rant that I have not polished. Yet.