[Spktyr]

He could open some of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This *is* what it was made for (among other reasons), as opposed to that stupid thing Klinton did with it "to drive down prices because we think they're too high."

[Gadsdenman]

Reserve isn't going to help if we lose any significant amount of refinery capacity, not to mention pipelines. That kind of infrastructure can't be replaced quickly, and we are already operating close to full production. The energy markets are going to go wild Monday. This event will probably have devastating effects on our economy in the near future.
Pray for a miracle, for the people still in NO, and for the rest of us,later.

[snowsislander]

He could open some of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

That is a possibility, but this storm could also affect the SPR -- for instance, it is possible that the Iberville facility could be affected directly by this storm.

Also, I believe that the headquarters for the SPR is in New Orleans, isn't it?

That still leaves the other three storage sites as unlikely to be directly affected (certainly the two in Texas), but I also wonder how big of a hit we could take in our refining capacity in the wake of Katrina...