Energy Now

High gas prices are squeezing Americans while oil companies rake in windfall profits. The average price of regular gasoline—about $1.50 when George W. Bush took office—has now more than doubled. [Oil Price Information Service [1]] The six biggest oil companies reported over $50 billion in combined profit for the 2nd quarter of 2008, their largest combined profit in history. Exxon Mobil’s $11.6 billion quarterly profit was the largest of any American company in history. [Associated Press [2]]

New offshore drilling wouldn’t help for almost 20 years. The Bush Administration admits that new offshore drilling "would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices" for almost 20 years. [U.S Department of Energy [3]] That's under normal circumstances. But on top of that, all of the oil drilling ships in the world are booked for the next five years, so obtaining oil from offshore wells might take even longer. [New York Times [4]]

There are real short-term solutions to the energy crisis, but they have all been blocked by Bush and congressional conservatives. There are a number of steps that we could take to immediately lower gas prices or cushion their blow for consumers:

• Tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—The Reserve now holds over 700 million barrels of oil. If Bush released a small fraction of the Reserve-- which was done in 1991, 2000, and 2005—it could immediately lower gas prices as it has in the past. Bush has refused and conservatives in Congress have voted against this modest measure, HR 6578 [5].

• Ban gasoline price-gouging—It should be unlawful to artificially inflate gas prices to take excessive profits. But conservatives in Congress voted against an anti-price gouging bill, HR 6346 [6].

• Crack down on oil price speculators—Hedge funds and investment bankers have used loopholes in commodities law to manipulate the futures market and drive the price of crude oil to record levels. Conservatives oppose legislation, HR 6604 [7], to stop excessive speculation.

• Help hard-pressed Americans with a tax break paid for by a windfall-profits tax on Big Oil—The big oil companies are reaping undeserved profits that should be taxed and rebated to American families. With John McCain’s support, conservatives in the Senate blocked a windfall profits tax in June. [MSNBC [8]]

The real solution to the energy crisis is to end America’s dependence on foreign oil. We can’t drill our way to energy independence. It will take conservation, energy efficiency, and clean power. Yet progress has been blocked by Bush and conservatives in Congress. Long-term solutions include:

• Invest in conservation, energy efficiency, and clean power—We should unleash American ingenuity to deliver energy solutions to the market. This Apollo Alliance [9] plan outlines a strategy for this mission which would create 3 million new jobs in clean energy. Conservatives repeatedly blocked legislation to promote conservation, efficiency, and clean power. [CAF Obstruction Report [10]]

• Invest in renewable energy—More than 20 states have enacted laws to increase the amount of power generated by renewable resources. [Progressive States Network [11]] But Bush and Senate conservatives killed 2007 legislation that would have required 15 percent of our electricity to come from renewable sources, and they continue to block the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008. [Washington Post [12]]

• Increase auto fuel efficiency—Bush and conservatives in Congress stalled auto-efficiency legislation for seven years. In December 2007, the day after Bush finally signed Democratic legislation with modest increases in fuel efficiency standards, the administration blocked18 states' laws that would have improved auto-efficiency rules for a majority of Americans. [New York Times [13]]