Although the Trump Administration’s war on Iran was not authorized by Congress, President Trump is using it as a pretext to invoke a wartime law and provide subsidies and support to his allies in the U.S. petroleum industry. The White House recently released a memo saying the President is using the Defense Production Act of 1950 to increase domestic petroleum production. We talk about the implications of this with Tyson Slocum, Director of the Energy Program at Public Citizen. Among other things, the Trump Administration is using the Korean War- era law to try to override the opposition of California and re-open a pipeline near Santa Barbara that has been closed since a massive oil spill in 2015.
