Pelosi wants Bush to stop filling Petroleum Reserve

The Hill ^

[Sub-Driver]

Pelosi wants Bush to stop filling Petroleum Reserve By Mike Soraghan Posted: 04/24/08 11:54 AM [ET] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday called on President Bush to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a way to reduce gas prices at the pump.

Her call came after days of demands by House Republicans that she produce a plan to reduce gas prices.

“I call upon the president today to work with Democrats to lower gas prices,” Pelosi said.

The Speaker stated that the reserve is 97 percent full, and cited experts saying that the move could reduce gas prices by as much as 5 cents.

Pelosi also called on the president to support legislation that she said would “hold OPEC accountable” for high gas prices and end what she considers to be subsidies to big oil companies.

“All of these are part of saying the leverage is with the consumer and not big oil,” Pelosi said.

[Max in Utah]

Marathon Oil, North Dakota:

Marathon anticipates drilling approximately 300 wells over the next four to five years. This program has the potential to add more than 20 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day of net production by 2012.

[steve8714]

No, she has arrived precisely there.

[norton]

That's good news, I don't normally favor buying euro technology over domestic without the legitimate justification of clear benefits.

My intent was political, Europe has operated more nukes, for more years, than has the US. Going with proven technology and proven constructors would lessen the green arguments against nuclear energy.

(Might also dbe cheaper)

[norton]

"reaction to any announcement would be for them to increase production in an attempt to get oil futures down"

And your point is?

[Gator113]

“I wonder if McCain will ever get that this could be an issue that could get him elected.”

With the ever rising price of fuel, and now food, he might find that he MUST use this approach.

[livius]

This is the mantra on the West Coast (I was in SF last week with my sweet but totally clueless, Chronicle-reading mother). Bush is putting too much in the reserves! He should release them! He should save us all about five cents at the pump!

Beyond stupid is putting it mildly.

[thackney]

We should be able to go online within weeks not years in a perfect world.

It only took a couple weeks after Hurricane Katrina to have oil flowing out of the SPR.

Releasing Crude Oil From the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/spr/spr-drawdown.html

[thackney]

BTTT

[thackney]

——Of course they paid approximately $29Billion in Income taxes.——

That wasn’t the only tax they paid.

ExxonMobil 2007
Revenue $404.6 Billion
Profit $40.6 Billion (10.0%)
Taxes $102.5 Billion (25.3%)

Sales-Based taxes $31.728B
Other taxes and duties $40.953B
Income taxes $29.864B

2007 Financial & Operating Review
http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/files/news_pub_fo_2007.pdf
Page 16

[Shortcake]

And whats going to stop the oil companies from grabbing the that tax in price increases?

The oil companies are not the one taxing us, you know.

[AFPhys]

If Pelosi HONESTLY wants America to have lower gasoline prices she can propose two things today:

1. Eliminate the fuel tax. IMMEDIATE benefits.

2. Bring to the House floor tomorrow a bill which will encourage drilling in ANWR and off the shores of CA and FL and GA, over any objections of those delegates... then WORK to get that bill passed. Long term benefits to lower price.

Unless she does both of these, she’s just politiking.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Hey NANCY you stupid swine!

Why not reduce some of that 45 cents per gallon tax the fed gets every time an American fills a fuel tank?

But that somehow does not exist. And America is clueless.

[AFPhys]

Don’t forget that the reason it was largely depleted is that round ‘bout 1996, the ‘Toon and Robert Reichhhhhhhcc sold many barrels from the Strategic Reserve at prices under $15/bbl “to reduce the national debt” instead of taking advantage of the historically low prices then to fill the sucker up.

[AFPhys]

I believe something’s cooking. Red China is filling an SPR, too.

[AFPhys]

You’re right.

I believe the time has come for some politician to do exactly what you propose... In fact, if the Demodog and the Rep were to oppose it, almost any credible third party candidate would garner a ton of votes with that single platform plank - possibly enough to overcome them both.

[Eagle of Liberty]

Pelosi, better idea. SUSPEND FEDERAL TAXES!

[Dog Gone]

It will be tough between now and probably the September time frame.

Our economy has to work through the subprime lending fiasco, but we will have done it by then. At that point the dollar should strengthen and oil prices should drop. I wouldn’t expect oil prices to be over $100/bbl by late fall, and although that’s still high, it will be trending in the right direction for consumers.

[mainestategop]

If we remove the gas tax, the price of gas would go down by a third.

also it would help if we built a few more refineries and drills instead of kowtowing to the envirowackos...

[calex59]

Democrat plan for reducing gas prices does not include a tax cut, does not include Democrats resigning, but should since the price of Gas has seen the greatest increase since they took control in 2006. Under Bush and a Republican congress Gas went up to about 2.15 from 1.40 until 2006, since then it has jumped up to whatever it happens to be now, just about 4.00 per gallon in CA, no matter where you buy it. So, if they want a plan, the best plan would be for all Dems to get the hell out of dodge and to cut taxes on Gas.

Also, let's try drilling for oil here, in the USA, and let's build new refineries and let's build nukes. Last, but far from least, let's get rid of the EPA and their stupid and useless rules.

[Go Gordon]

And your point is?

You made it sound like the Opeckers can simply change the price tag of oil. They can't. The only influence they have is over production, and when it comes to increasing production, those increases are limited, which limit their influence on the price. Why can't people understand that the devaluation of the dollar is half the cost of a barrel of oil compared to a few years ago and in order to impact the supply and demand curves, the USA holds the key (Bakkan field, ANWR, Gulf Coast...)