Steep Gas Prices Drive Political Engines
© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
June 23, 2000
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, June 23, 2000 (ENS) - High gas prices in the Midwest are heating up as a major political issue. Congressional Republicans are seizing the opportunity to press for oil drilling within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other natural areas, while President Bill Clinton is promoting increased investment in alternative fuels.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, told reporters Thursday that the best way to bring down oil and gasoline prices would be to allow oil and gas exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.
"We need to open up areas that are now closed, like ANWR," Lott said. The senator also promoted federal incentives to reopen "oil wells that are now capped and [get] so-called marginal wells back in production."
Lott blamed the Clinton administration for giving insufficient emphasis to domestic oil production.
"All of their actions have been actions to try to ignore our dependence on foreign oil," Lott said. About 55 percent of the oil consumed in the U.S. is imported.
Lott was responding to a letter sent to Congress earlier in the day by President Bill Clinton. Clinton charged Congress with blocking his efforts to fashion a comprehensive energy policy that would include renewable and alternative energy sources.
"With so much attention focused on the recent spike in gasoline prices and OPEC’s decision to increase production quotas, it is critical that we not lose sight of our nation's long-term energy needs," wrote Clinton. "For seven years, my Administration has pursued a sound, comprehensive policy to address those needs. Regrettably, several key elements of this Administration’s strategy have languished in Congress. In recent days, in fact, budget initiatives to strengthen our energy supply have suffered significant cuts, while some Members have advanced proposals that would seriously harm our environment in the name of energy security. I urge you to work closely with me to enact these critical energy proposals without further delay."
Clinton referred to legislation introduced by Alaska Senator Frank Murkowski, a Republican, that would immediately open some areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The proposal has been strongly criticized by environmental groups and by Native Americans who rely on caribou herds that calve in the refuge.
Lott countered by accusing Clinton of "groping" for answers. He blamed the higher gas prices, which have risen above $2 a gallon in some Midwestern areas, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) clean air rules that require the sale of cleaner burning reformulated gasoline in polluted cities, including Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin - cities with the highest gas prices in the country.
"Those EPA standards, typical of everything else that comes out of EPA, probably are extreme and probably should be waived and reviewed," charged Lott.
Senator Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, said Thursday that the White House should look into the possibility of gas exploration on public lands in the Rocky Mountains. Federal surveys suggest the region could contain as much as 137 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Roberts said the investigation launched this week by the Federal Trade Commission is not enough to counter high gas prices. He suggested that federal tax credits and other incentives be created to boost U.S. oil and gas production.
"The FTC investigation is important, but pointing the finger of blame will not ensure that we find a long term solution to this price crisis," Roberts said. "There are many other substantial measures that must be taken."
Next week, Republicans in the House of Representatives plan to hold four committee hearings and various regional public events intended to pin the blame for gas price increases on House Democrats, the White House, and particularly Vice President Al Gore, the likely Democratic candidate for President.
The hearings will highlight Clinton administration policies like the EPA’s reformulated gasoline requirement, emissions rules that could force the closure of some coal burning power plants, and President Clinton’s veto of a plan to accelerate the creation of a nuclear waste repository, all of which Republicans say have boosted energy prices.Today, Midwestern Republicans will hold a news conference highlighting the difficulties of consumers in that region, and blaming the Democrats for the price problem. The strategy attempts to undermine the credibility of Gore and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, a potential Gore running mate.
House Democrats will counter with a news conference promoting White House legislation to increase investment in renewable energy and provide tax incentives for energy efficient technologies.
On Tuesday, Gore released a statement praising the "investigation of big oil," and suggesting that price fixing among oil companies may be a widespread phenomenon - thus redirecting blame away from the EPA.
"We now know that - according to the latest available statistics - oil company profits have increased by as much as nearly five hundred percent in the first part of this year," Gore said. "These enormous and unreasonable profits suggest that big oil is gouging American consumers."
His rival, Texas Governor George W. Bush, has had to be more circumspect in his comments on gas prices. Bush, a former oil man from an oil drilling family, is heavily dependent on oil industry funding for his campaign. In 1978, during an unsuccessful bid for Congress, Bush told the "San Angelo Standard-Times" that he would support industry issues.
"People in Congress will listen to me, because oil is my business," Bush said.
At a press conference Thursday in Minnesota, Gore questioned Bush’s loyalty. "You know the old song, ‘Whose side are you on’?" asked Gore. "I am now, as I have always been, on the side of the consumers, who in a situation like this need somebody willing to fight back."But Gore and his own family own hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock in Occidental Petroleum Corp., linking Gore to "big oil" as well, a fact his campaign strategists have worked to downplay.
A search of Bush’s campaign website uncovered no references to gasoline prices by the candidate.