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AS OPEC REVEALS MORE ON PLANS FOR OIL PRICES,
STILL TIME TO ACT FOR AMERICAN CONSUMERS
Senator urges White House, Energy Dept.
to fight for families, businesses
as oil and gasoline prices rise; OPEC just one area of concern
March 14, 2005
Washington, DC – U.S.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released the following statement today
in advance of Wednesday’s March 16 OPEC meeting, and in
light of the Administration’s continued inaction on behalf
of American consumers struggling with high gasoline prices. Wyden
is seeking relief for American families and businesses that can
expect to pay an average $2.15 per gallon for gasoline during
the upcoming high driving season. OPEC’s likely action at
its Wednesday meeting is the first of several areas of concern
that should be addressed. His statement follows:
“The news this morning
indicates that while OPEC will not cut production at their meeting
this week, the cartel will seek to lock in a higher minimum price
for oil in an effort to preserve the crude oil boom that’s
busting American consumers at the gasoline pump right now.
“Twelve days ago Secretary
of Energy Samuel Bodman told me that he had not called OPEC to
do what this Administration promised it would do: use the political
capital of the United States to pressure OPEC to ‘open the
spigots’ and aid American consumers when oil and gasoline
prices are high. Now there are only two days left before OPEC
meets to set prices that will affect every American consumer.
This Administration has failed to pressure OPEC. There is still
no indication that this Administration will stand up for us on
the world oil market.
“I am not sure what it
will take to galvanize the necessary response from this White
House. Its own Energy Information Administration blames tight
supplies of oil worldwide for sending prices soaring. Its own
Commerce Secretary, John Snow, has said that the trend of high
oil prices may soon hamper the nation’s economic progress.
Major industries that are already in trouble are feeling the hurt:
one airline, Delta, has said fuel prices may push them over the
edge into bankruptcy. And that same Energy Department office,
the Energy Information Administration, reported last week that
the average price of gasoline – the average – is expected
to hit $2.15 per gallon in April and stay there.
“Even if no one in the
White House will speak up for American consumers on the world
energy market, as the President promised during the 2000 campaign
that he would do, I will continue to speak up for them here at
home. I expect that the White House will let the OPEC meeting
take place without comment, but there will be plenty more to tackle
when that’s over. Our country currently exports one million
barrels of oil per day to oil-rich regions of the world, even
as we import 10 million barrels. U.S. oil companies remain unpunished
for the anti-competitive practices that artificially inflate gasoline
prices, hurting American businesses and consumers every day. Believe
me, these are issues that I will not let go unaddressed while
American businesses and American families are getting clobbered
at the corner station in the coming weeks.
“When gasoline prices
go up to this degree, family finances suffer – and not just
at the gas pump, but at the grocery store and the department store
too. As businesses pay more to transport their goods, consumers
pay more for those goods at every turn. Even after they raise
their prices, some businesses have to cut jobs or benefits to
stay afloat. The argument to contain these runaway oil and gasoline
prices is not a political one. It’s an argument that we
need to stick up for American families and businesses when the
going gets tough.
“The current rise in gasoline
prices is absolutely and inextricably linked to the surge in crude
oil prices. They are still well above $50 per barrel. They are
expected to remain so. Even as OPEC says they will not cut production
so that oil prices may go down, they are looking this week at
setting a new, higher minimum price per barrel to increase the
chances of crude oil prices staying high. OPEC is looking out
for OPEC. Who is looking out for American consumers?
“Less than two days
from now, OPEC meets. The silence from this Administration and
its Energy Department is deafening. It is still my hope that they
would choose in the next 24 hours to break that silence on behalf
of every American consumer. The American people deserve better,
and I will keep fighting until they
get a better response on this crucial economic issue.”
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