Northern Michigan Gas Prices Reach $3.55 Per Gallon

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) claimed victory for the American consumer as he learned that President George W. Bush will release barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to help combat the latest record $70 per barrel price. Stupak had been pressing the administration to divert domestic supplies.

“I’m glad to see that President Bush has heeded my advice to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to ease the pain we’re feeling at the pump,” Stupak said. “With the Reserve at 98 percent capacity, we do not need to continue filling the SPR when families are paying astronomical prices for gas.”

Stupak included an amendment to the Energy Bill to suspend oil deliveries to the SPR until oil fell below $40 per barrel for 2 consecutive weeks on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The amendment was stripped out of the bill by the Senate. Stupak offered his amendment in the Conference Committee where it was narrowly defeated.

The additional barrels from the SPR on the market will stabilize the nation’s oil supply and provide some relief for consumers. With East Jordan, Michigan in the 1^st Congressional District holding today’s record for one of the highest gas prices (www.michigangasprices.com) in the state at $3.55 per gallon, Stupak has been looking for any option, including releasing from the SPR, to help bring down gas prices.

“I attempted a number of tactics in the legislative process to release oil from the SPR and help relieve gas prices. This was a focus when we were looking at a record breaking $50 per barrel price,” Stupak said. “Now that we’re fast approaching a devastating $80 per barrel, the President is finally taking action – it’s certainly better late than never.”

“The President made a campaign promise in 2000 to “jawbone OPEC” to bring down the price of oil. He’s had well over four years and we’ve only seen a negative affect as we’ve watched our foreign policy eat away at any chance of creating stability or relief at the gas pump for the American people,” Stupak said. “I expect the President to do a better job at “jaw boning” his friends in the big oil companies not to exploit Hurricane Katrina as another excuse to raise gas prices the way we’re seeing now.”

The President and the Secretary of Energy have exclusive authority to divert domestic barrels to increase oil supply and directly affect the price of gas. As the Republican Congress sent bills to the President that did not include a directive to do so, Stupak released a column urging President Bush to release oil from the SPR as both Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush did during their tenures. Stupak pledged to continue pressuring the Bush Administration to consider American consumers before big oil companies as gas prices continue to surge.

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