Bond: To cut gas prices, suspend deliveries to fed oil reserve
U.S. Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., just fired off an e-mail in which he proposes to ”provide immediate relief to families struggling with high gas prices by suspending oil deliveries to the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Preserve (SPR).”
Bond sees that approach as preferable to suspending the federal 18-cent-a-gallon gas tax (an approach sought by two of the presidential contenders: Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and John McCain, R-Ariz.)
“Truckers on the open highways, farmers sending their goods to market, and families in their neighborhoods are all suffering from pain at the pump and they need our help now,” said Bond. “This action will provide immediate relief to drivers from big rigs to Buicks with lower diesel and gas prices.”
“…Bond joined Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo) in introducing S. 2927, which halts oil deposits to the SPR when the average price of gasoline is over $2.50 per gallon, and the price of diesel fuel exceeds $2.75 per gallon. Earlier today, Bond also joined 15 of his Republican colleagues in urging the President to stop immediately these deposits.
“…Temporarily halting deposits of oil will increase the overall supply of oil available, signaling to all markets that the U.S. Government is willing to take immediate measures to address skyrocketing gas prices. Experts predict that this provision could drop gas prices by almost a quarter a gallon,” Bond’s statement said.
As he explains, “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was initially created in the 1970’s to respond to the OPEC oil embargo and protect the nation from severe supply disruptions. Currently, the SPR contains more than 701 million barrels of oil, exceeding our International Energy Program commitments to maintain at least 90 days of oil stocks in reserve.”
In the long-term, Bond called for “more fuel efficient vehicles, clean fuels from renewable sources, more refineries to increase supply of gasoline and diesel, and environmentally safe exploration and drilling for domestic sources of oil and gas…”
“All of our efforts to increase supply and reduce demand working together will provide Missourians and folks across the country the cheaper, cleaner, and more plentiful gas and diesel they need and deserve,” said Bond.
This is a horrible idea no matter what side of the aisle it comes from. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is for national emergencies. Paying more for gasoline is not a national emergency. A sudden decrease in imports caused by conflict with… say… Iran, is what the reserve is for. If you drain it right now for political purposes what are we going to do if and when an actual emergency happens. If Bush does one smart thing while he is in office he will say no to this nonsense.