No president can order a new refinery into existence. Not even Joe Biden’s autopen could accomplish that. But a president and his energy secretary can make it easier to expand one or bring one back out of mothballs, and that is what Donald Trump and Chris Wright announced this week.

The Department of Energy announced plans on Thursday to provide up to $150 million in Defense Production Act (DPA) funding to expand petroleum production, storage, and logistics at qualifying refineries. The money will come from the $1 billion congress appropriated for national security energy projects in last year’s Working Families Tax Cuts law. Trump signed a presidential determination on the same day declaring domestic refining, pipelines, storage and marine terminals “essential to the national defense.”

Wright was blunt, blaming “17 years of Democrat leaders enacting energy subtraction policies that led to the closure of refineries and more expensive refined oil products.”

So, why is this the right move? The numbers make a compelling case. Diesel prices at over $6.00 per gallon and gasoline costing $4.29/gallon per AAA cry out for innovative solutions. At the same time, U.S.........

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