Fox Business Network – The Bottom Line – Broadcast May 22, 2026
Memorial Day travel hits new highs despite soaring energy prices – Climatedepot.com executive editor Marc Morano discusses record Memorial Day travel despite high energy prices and analyzes the political blame game over energy on ‘The Bottom Line.’
.@ClimateDepot responds to Gavin Newsom’s war on Chevron, after the Governor urged California drivers to avoid the oil giant’s gas stations this weekend | @BrianBrenberg pic.twitter.com/CamnyupP2u
— The Bottom Line (@BottomLineFBN) May 22, 2026
Morano: “The U.S. is the most prepared for this kind of energy disruption that we’ve ever been in our history. In the words of CNN, the US has produced more oil now than any nation in the history of the world. If we had had a Strait of Hormuz closure a few years ago, under Joe Biden and the Green New Deal, the Inflation Reduction Act, I think you would have seen gas prices skyrocket even higher than the $5; it could have hit $6 a gallon — that is what Secretary of Energy Chris Wright was trying to say.
We are doing as well as we can to handle what is probably the greatest disruption in energy since the 1970s — it’s amazing how well we’re doing. This is a war situation, and anything’s possible down the road. Let’s hope that we can get this Strait of Hormuz open, that’s what this is boiling down to…at some point in the future. But the US is handling this better than any other nation on Earth so far.
Q: How long will it take for energy prices to recover after the war is over?
Morano: I’ve seen the analysts say that prices will return to pre-war levels by 2027 or later. But I don’t believe that, because when you have a demand and necessity is the mother of invention. And you have some of the wealthiest countries on the planet, from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. They are going to pull out every stop to produce energy once the war is over. Once the Strait of Hormuz is open, I think we’re gonna see a huge rebound that’s going to shock the analysts. But again, we’ve got to get the straight open. And that’s the most immediate problem, but I do think we will recover quickly because there are going to be wealthy nations with a lot of vested interest in it.
Q: What is going on in California under Gov. Newsom’s policies?
Morano: California went from over 40 refineries down to 8 and now down to 6, with the latest 2 leaving. Gavin Newsom has imposed Soviet-style quotas on the state’s energy grid, and now it is the most dependent state in the United States on foreign energy because they’ve shut down their domestic refineries, and they do this to achieve an accounting trick on climate.
Remember, Gavin Newsom is the one who banned gas-powered cars and mandated that everyone drive $ 70,000 –$80,000 EVs, mandated by the state of California. They were ground zero for all that climate nonsense, and those actions have consequences. And it’s ironic that Gov. Newsom wants to blame the gas companies for high prices.
Q: AOC showed a jar of muddy water at a hearing and blamed it on AI data centers? What was behind that?
Morano: The house that AOC got this muddy water from was 400 yards from the construction of an AI data center, from Meta. It was not from a running AI data center. So you could put in an office park, a shopping mall, you could put in just about any local construction, and you can disrupt a local well water. During construction, nearby well water can get turbid, resulting in muddy water. Anything that disturbs the Earth could cause it. AOC’s anti-construction. Having said that, it’s perfectly valid for the EPA to investigate these reports of muddy water near the AI data center construction. You want the EPA to investigate and see what’s going on. So I do credit AOC for that, but it was a complete prop that she engaged in.
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