Posted on 05/27/2004 6:26:06 AM PDT by kellynla
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is considering easing environmental requirements for a multitude of gasoline blends and streamlining permits for new refineries to increase fuel supplies and fight soaring prices, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said Wednesday.
Evans, a former Texas oil company executive, said in an Associated Press interview that the cost of gasoline, which hit a record national average of $2.06 per gallon this week, was affecting driving habits, with people making fewer trips to the store.
Mindful that oil shocks in the 1970s and 1980s were severe enough to push the country into a series of recessions, Evans said the administration was taking very seriously the current run-up in prices and the impact it might have on consumers' buying patterns.
A CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll on Wednesday indicated that almost six in 10 people surveyed said they expected gasoline prices would cause them a financial hardship this summer and lead them to drive less.
The administration is feeling political heat as well from the surge in energy prices. Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry, blaming Bush's foreign policy, said Wednesday that "instability and danger in the Middle East are driving up the price of oil."
Evans said the administration was exploring ways to reduce the requirements that now exist for gasoline blends in different parts of the country to deal with specific air pollution problems.
"We've got to think real hard whether we need 17, 18, 19, 20 – whatever it is — different varieties of fuel in this country," Evans said.
"That puts certain areas of the country at a very high risk of being dependent on a single source supplier."
Evans said the need for these "boutique fuels" was hurting the country's ability to import gasoline. While there is surplus capacity at refineries worldwide, foreign refiners often do not produce the specialty blends required only in America.
But Vickie Patton, a senior lawyer with Environmental Defense in Boulder, Colo., said the use of cleaner-burning gasoline blends had been "consistently one of the single most effective measures to protect public health and the environment from harmful air pollution."
Evans mentioned looking at regulations and how permits are handled for expanding or building domestic refineries. He said a new refinery has not been built in this country in more than 25 years.
Evans is the second Cabinet member to raise the issue of the numerous gasoline blends that are required to meet environmental standards.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, testifying before a House panel last month, said the administration was seriously considering requests from California and New York to waive requirements that they sell specially blended gasoline. The requirements for the special blends of gasoline make fuel more expensive.
EPA spokesman John Millett said the agency has not indicated when it might decide.
Evans also noted that Bush's energy bill was still tied up in Congress. Many Democrats are opposed to a proposal that would open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
While no new refineries have been built in nearly 30 years, many existing refineries have expanded their capacities. As a result of "capacity creep," whereby existing refineries create additional refining capacity from the same physical structure, capacity per operating refinery increased by 28% over the 1990 to 1998 period. Overall, since the mid-1990s, U.S. refinery capacity has increased from 15.0 MMBD in 1994 to 16.7 MMBD (as of January 1, 2004).
Kerry will now take off his 'energy independent low gas prices' hat and doff the "Green" one.
Won't the environmentalists tie up any attempts to build new refineries or relax gas formulations in court for years?
Have to open Alaska! The only way.
If they DO need something to use as land fill to cover up any digging-they can use all the court documents and paperwork generated from the Monica Affair.
DemocRats scream about high gas prices yet oppose EVERY effort to do anything that would bring them down.
The Greens will scream bloody murder. But this energy crisis sets up a real nice contrast between them and those who want to increase supply and lower prices despite the incidental effects on some caribou. The Republicans should schedule some more votes on the administration's energy initiative.
This is something I've advocated in barroom arguments with liberal nuts.....and now to have the administration actually bringing it to the fore....that's worth voting for. It may not happen, but on the other hand, anybody-but-bush would never suggest that the way to match supply is possibly less governement intervention.
The Enviro-Wackos will scream bloody murder.
Yep, as the other poster noted, as soon as any rules are relaxed, Kerry O' the Green will be screeching about how the Republicans want to pollute the air.
This does seem to be the perfect opportunity to start pushing to open up ANWR for drilling. Gonna take some stones to pick a fight with the enviro-whackos though. Fight 'em over reduced restrictions on the current refineries or drill -- take your choice. Either way it'll be a pretty good fight.
STOP "CONSIDERING" AND DO IT! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
More flop sweat expected from Al Gore any minute now
About time. This is something that should have been done a couple of years ago.
Complain is not the word for what they will do. They will consider this Bush's all out war on the environment. There will be serious wailing and gnashing of teeth. However, in my opinion, it is still a great move and it highlights one of the reasons for high prices.
Blah, blah, blah...
Total refinery capacity may have gone up, but the balkanization of 15 EPA gasoline blends does not allow that aggregate capacity to address all those independent needs simultaneously. You can't just flip the switch in the morning for Oklahoma and afternoon for Michigan.
Even in the face of "capacity creep," opening new refineries is good for capitalism, allows for experimentation, and helps avoid monopolization.
But in any case, the price of gasoline today is not high because of refining problems; it is driven by the price of crude. I think John F. Kerry voted against (although perhaps after he voted for) increased oil drilling in various parts of the country, which would have increased the amount of crude oil on the world market.
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