America’s emergency oil stockpile has fallen to its lowest level in 40 years, with the war with Iran driving unprecedented withdrawals that could damage the underground salt caverns that store it. Gas prices are at record highs, with the AAA National Average for a gallon of regular gasoline at $4.07.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve holds crude in 60 salt caverns deep beneath the Gulf Coast. Operators pump fresh water into a cavern to lift oil to pipelines, but petroleum engineering professor Siddharth Misra warns that repeated rapid drawdowns erode the salt walls, flatten roofs, and thin the pillars that separate adjacent caverns, raising the risk of structural collapse.

The reserve’s practical operational floor is between 250 million and 300 million barrels; below that the system can no longer pump oil quickly and the risk of canyon formation rises. Current inventories are at 172 million barrels, and the Department of Energy says the reserve will fall to roughly 243 million barrels after the next draw.

The Trump administration defends the caverns as safe, with Energy Department spokesman Ben Dietderich asserting they are "always full," while lawmakers on both sides cite the long‑term vulnerability of the aging infrastructure.