Senate looking at ways to cut gas costs
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008
BENTON COUNTY - In a move to reduce the price of gasoline, U. S. Senator Mark Pryor said he hopes President George W. Bush will stop filling the nearly full Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
"This is a national reserve of petroleum. I think it's about 97 percent or 98 percent full at this point. It's up to President Bush on how he wants to manage this and the president has been putting 70, 000 barrels a day into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Experts, when they look at that number, think the fact that he's doing that is adding $ 10 a barrel to the price of oil. So if you want to impact gas prices for the better, if we can take that pressure off the demand side... (it would likely do so )," Pryor said May 7.
The president insists on buying West Texas Light Sweet Crude, a premium oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which drives up gas prices, he said.
"We're going to ask the president to try to stop doing that. Again, it's 97 percent or 98 percent full right now. But I think we could stop in the near term and it could have a very positive impact that people could feel," Pryor said.
That's just one of the ideas going around in the Senate to try to encourage lower gasoline prices. Pryor and his Democrat Senate colleagues intend soon to take some action to do that, the Arkansas senator said.
"There are several ideas that are floating around up here that we are going to try to pass at some point in the next... few weeks.... I think the Democrats in the Senate are very committed to trying to get something done on that as quickly as we can," Pryor said.
Arkansans are spending about $ 4, 600 per year on energy, Pryor said, noting that high gasoline prices are crippling Arkansans' and others' ability to spend on other critical needs, such as education and health care. Therefore, senators will soon act, the Arkansas senator said. While specific proposals have yet to be worked out, Pryor said, the proposals to be put forward must: reduce U. S. reliance on foreign oil; increase the supply of alternative fuels; increase energy efficiency; and make sure the energy markets are transparent in trading, buying and selling.
In the Senate, he has supported increased standards calling for more energy efficiency for vehicles; helped get people at oil companies and in oil markets to look for price gouging; pushed for biofuel investment; and supported offshore drilling in the outer continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, Pryor recalled. Allowing more areas to be opened in the Gulf Coast for oil exploration and development could get into the current system in about two years, whereas oil exploration and development in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, where lots of attention is focused, would not have an impact for about 10 years, he said.
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