Archives

Politicians, please abandon this idea you keep trotting out. Please work on real solutions.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2450038020080424?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Speaker of the House of Representatives on Thursday called on the White House to temporarily stop sending crude oil into the nation's emergency stockpile.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters she was calling on President George W. Bush to work with Democrats to find a way to "temporarily suspend" oil deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The White House immediately rejected the plea. "We don't believe the fill rates have a meaningful impact on oil supplies," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

"We continue to fill the reserve to provide an added layer of protection to the American people in cases of severe supply disruption."

Pelosi said suspending deliveries would save drivers 5 cents to 24 cents per gallon at the pump.

As U.S. benchmark crude oil prices hit a record near $120 a barrel this week, the Bush administration insists that filling the reserve accounts for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of daily supply, and has no meaningful effect on prices.

The nearly 701 million barrels of crude oil stored in underground salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas are meant as a supply buffer in case of major supply disruptions like the 2005 hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast oil patch. It was created by Congress in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo.

Current shipments come to about 70,000 barrels per day, while the United States uses about 21 million bpd.

Democrats in the Senate are also pursuing legislation that would require the Energy Department to suspend shipments to the reserve if prices are too high.

Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said he would seek to attach an amendment to an upcoming supplemental appropriations bill that would forbid the government from sending oil to the SPR if oil prices are above $75 a barrel.

"I believe I have the votes," Dorgan told reporters. "I think I'm going to be able to get this dome."

(Additional reporting by Chris Baltimore; Editing by Russell Blinch and Walter Bagley)

I guess Pelosi has decided to follow the herd off of the "sound-byte politics" cliff with all the other Washington lemmings. Is she up for re-election this fall?

Hi Tim:

___I like Pelosi but when she begins believing $120 oil is an emergency, what is she (we) going to do when we really do have an emergency with not only supply disruptions but no supply in some far off future scenario? Cry for hearings I guess :ccry:

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi Tim:

___I like Pelosi but when she begins believing $120 oil is an emergency, what is she (we) going to do when we really do have an emergency with not only supply disruptions but no supply in some far off future scenario? Cry for hearings I guess :ccry:

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I sure HOPE it is far off! Knowing the way I have had to deal with the worst more times than I care to remember, though... :(

We should be stockpiling more...I envision many larger conflicts over oil before it runs out. And I don't think we have any hybrid F-22s.

I generally like Pelosi, too. That's why I have to be a little disappointed. Our system at work...

Bush's response:

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/7620/bushfinger2xn9.jpg

Seriously, does anyone else think crazy lady when they hear the name Nancy Pelosi?

A moritorium on stockpiling oil is about as bad an idea McCain's lead balloon to have a summer gas tax holiday.

I've been thinking of the days where people would boycott gas stations for 1 day, but then it would go back to normal..

why dont we pick 1 or 2 major chains and just not go to them?

prices will drop to being back buisness (theoretically)
but the longer we avoid certain stations, the more it'll go down..

thoughts?

I've been thinking of the days where people would boycott gas stations for 1 day, but then it would go back to normal..

why dont we pick 1 or 2 major chains and just not go to them?

prices will drop to being back buisness (theoretically)
but the longer we avoid certain stations, the more it'll go down..

thoughts?

Theoretically, the stations that had no business would only lower their prices a few cents because after their margin is gone, they will have no incentive to lower prices further. The stations receiving new business would learn to raise their prices. As soon as business returned to the boycotted stations, their price would return to normal. An equilibrium will be reached. Supply and demand will always rule so this idea simply doesn't work.

Keep in mind that station margins are thin and many times stations are independently owned. The margin on a gallon of gas is probably 3 - 10 cents a gallon or so.

Hi Chris:

___That kind of thing has been tried before from the lower tiers of the economic scale and from a supply/demand standpoint, it does nothing. The only thing that will reduce fuel costs fast and furious is to drop total US demand in a hurry. Swapping from one station to another will not achieve the same result (or any result) by any means.

___The problem is we may not be able to drop demand as fast as supply is coming off from peak. This is where the really ugly part can come in and we may be facing this scenario for an awfully long time until oil is supplanted by (something else) in the future.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Bush's response:

Seriously, does anyone else think crazy lady when they hear the name Nancy Pelosi?

I sure do.

OMG, I just had a revolutionary idea. Remember how there used to be this thing called "The Milkman"? He would deliver milk to your house. Why don't they deliver gas to your house, and sell it to you for 10 cents less a gallon since it eliminates the need for a gas station?

Or, why don't they just have one mega station in the city, like maybe the place all the gas stations get their fuel from, and why can't you just buy your fuel there for 10 cents less since again, there's no gas station with a minimart to support.

OMG, I just had a revolutionary idea. Remember how there used to be this thing called "The Milkman"? He would deliver milk to your house. Why don't they deliver gas to your house, and sell it to you for 10 cents less a gallon since it eliminates the need for a gas station?

Or, why don't they just have one mega station in the city, like maybe the place all the gas stations get their fuel from, and why can't you just buy your fuel there for 10 cents less since again, there's no gas station with a minimart to support.

Are you being serious or sarcastic?

We should be stockpiling more...I envision many larger conflicts over oil before it runs out. And I don't think we have any hybrid F-22s.

But isn't Richard Branson working on Bio-jet fuel? :)

The thing about the SPR and oil policy is that we subsidize one group of people to pump oil out of the ground in one place while we pay another group of people to pump it back into the ground at another place. Giving crude oil an expensive night out on the town seems crazy to me.

But isn't Richard Branson working on Bio-jet fuel? :)



And the Air Force is running 50% FT (synthetic) fuels in the B-1B while working to certify all their aircraft for unrestricted ops with syn fuel.

But isn't Richard Branson working on Bio-jet fuel? :)

The thing about the SPR and oil policy is that we subsidize one group of people to pump oil out of the ground in one place while we pay another group of people to pump it back into the ground at another place. Giving crude oil an expensive night out on the town seems crazy to me.

I must admit I don't know the details about the long-term storage of oil (cost, efficiency, spoilage, etc.), but in 10-15 years, $120/bl may seem like a bargain. If we only could divert our frivolous consumption it would be a good start, in my opinion. We definitely don't need to start releasing 'emergency reserves'.

I'd much rather see them top it off, and then forget about it except for emergencies and "short term" loans to oil companies during supply disruptions. This playing with the emergency stockpiles like a small business cash box is insane.