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Politicians Feel Heat, Point Finger at Big Oil

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 25, 2006
America's political leaders have, for the most part, steadfastly ignored rising gasoline prices for almost 18 months. Now, with an election not far away and prices skyrocketing, the politicians sense their strategy has failed them.

The political powers in Washington are on the verge of panic. President Bush is delaying the summer's deposits into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That is the emergency stockpile of government-owned crude oil.

The President is feeling increased political pressure from members of Congress who are discovering first-hand that consumers are angry because of high gas prices. Consumers are now paying a national average of $2.91 per gallon for regular self-serve, according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gasoline stations.

"So by deferring deposits until the fall, we'll leave a little more oil on the market," Bush said during a speech at the Renewable Fuels Association in Washington. "Every little bit helps."

Maybe, but the amount of petroleum the President is diverting into the energy market place is so minuscule that the increase will have almost no impact on gas prices.

Bush also has ordered a federal investigation into possible cheating, price gouging or illegal manipulation in the gasoline markets.

He promised to ask the EPA to temporarily ease clean air regulations that have caused gas shortages in some parts of the Northeast. There have been media reports of shortages as producers switch over to cleaner-burning summer blends.

The Democrats quickly accused Bush of failing to get tough on powerful oil companies.

Oil companies reported record profits in 2005, led by ExxonMobil, which said it made $36.1 billion -- the largest-ever annual profit for a U.S. firm.

In a letter to all 50 state attorneys general, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has asked that they "vigorously enforce state law against any anticompetitive, anti-consumer conduct in the petroleum industry."

"Consumers around the nation have expressed concerns about what they have perceived as anticompetitive or otherwise unfair conduct by the world's major oil companies," according to Gonzales, who with other Bush Administration officials has consistently worked to pre-empt state health and consumer laws and limit the state AG's enforcement powers.

Panic Sets In

The Administration's repeated failure to address the crises of rising gasoline prices has led in part to Bush's dismal showing in public approval survey. The President is suffering approval ratings as low as 32 percent and the Wall Street Journal, on its editorial page predicts the gasoline crisis will only get worse.

"Few things are less becoming in a political party than desperation, as Republicans are now demonstrating as they panic over rising oil and gas prices," the Journal writes.

In San Francisco, the Chronicle lambasted Bush saying, "If motorists are looking for immediate relief through government action, they'll be disappointed in the months leading to November's Congressional elections."

In Michigan, frustration with gasoline prices moving above $3 a gallon exploded as politicians repeated the message they are hearing from constituents: Enough is enough.

In Lansing, Governor Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat who faces re-election this fall, announced that in just 72 hours, 40,000 Michiganders had signed an online petition asking President George W. Bush to support a cap on excessive oil company profits.

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