Rising Gasoline Prices

RISING GASOLINE PRICES
STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, at a time when there are record gasoline prices for the American consumer and record oil company profits, the Bush administration is filling our Strategic Petroleum Reserve at 2½ times the average fill rate. Over the last 2 years, the average fill rate has been about 120,000 barrels a day. Recently, it has been hovering around 300,000 barrels a day. Using the figures provided by the administration's Energy Information Administration Office, these policies would raise the price of oil per barrel about $1.50.

I come to the Senate today to say I believe the Bush administration's policies with respect to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve are hitting the American people with a double whammy. For the American people, more of their tax dollars are now being spent for filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and more of their take-home dollars are being spent on gasoline at the pump.

I come today to say if the Bush administration is not willing to at least reduce the fill rate of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, I ask the Bush administration to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with a firehose. It is that simple.

Over the course of the year, the administration may say, we reach an average fill rate of 120,000 barrels a day. There is a great amount of oil in some months and no oil in other months.

To that, I say the months before the peak driving season, when gasoline is already at record prices, are not the months to go whole hog in filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This is not the time to pour in the maximum amount of oil. One reason is because oil prices are already so high that American taxpayers are spending top dollar for the oil being put into the reserve. Anyone who has ever had to run their own family finances knows when prices are high, sometimes you wait until the price comes down to buy what you want.

There is another, more compelling reason to slow the rate of fill in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It is because this administration's policy is actually contributing to the high gas prices shellacking working Americans' pocketbooks every day from coast to coast.

I am of the view the American consumer is about to get hit by a perfect storm with respect to these gasoline prices. The combination of OPEC cutbacks, the fact the Federal Trade Commission-the agency that is supposed to protect our consumers-is sitting on its hands, the fact you actually get a tax break for closing a profitable oil refinery, these Strategic Petroleum Reserve policies, is going to create a perfect storm that is going to be devastating for American consumers across our country.

I know my colleagues are here and want to talk about this issue, as well, so I will abbreviate my statement.

I yield the floor.