Pelosi Asks the President to Increase the Supply of Oil

This is rich...instead of doing something about increasing our supply of oil, Speaker Pelosi has asked the President to release a supply from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves.

Republican Leader, my Congressman and a Great American -- John Boehner says it best:

“With her call for President Bush to release supplies from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Speaker is admitting yet again that increasing the supply of oil will help reduce the price of gasoline. I agree that more supply is necessary, and so do my House Republican colleagues who have been arguing for decades in favor of more American energy production. The fact is, the American people expect and deserve far more than what Speaker Pelosi is proposing. House Republicans stand ready to work across the aisle on a real solution to our energy crisis: an ‘all of the above’ plan that increases production of American energy, encourages conservation, and promotes alternative fuels.

“Until the Speaker and her colleagues in the liberal Democratic leadership of Congress unlock our nation’s vast natural energy resources, consumers will continue to see skyrocketing prices at the pump. Gas prices have soared 75 percent on the Democrats’ watch, and the American people are fed up with their endless excuses. Families and small businesses are paying historic prices thanks to more than three decades of Democratic opposition to American energy production – all to protect the interests of their environmental extremist allies. In poll after poll, Americans are saying ‘enough is enough’ and demanding more production of American energy. Today’s proposal by Speaker Pelosi is another acknowledgment that we must do more to increase our energy supply, and House Republicans will continue pushing Democratic leaders to act on real reforms on behalf of the American people.”

I just don't think the Speaker understands what the word "Strategic" means...

And that is not to say that I wouldn't support tapping the SPR if concessions were made to start increasing our supply of oil domestically, but I don't think she really wants the oil from the SPR anyway. This is her way of trying to spin the energy issue back on to Republicans. The White House should agree, but only if and when Congress send the President bill that would allow for exploring for all of the oil possible in American territory.

7/9/08 UPDATE: Michael Steel makes some sense:

Republicans believe that more supply – more American energy – is needed to help lower skyrocketing gas prices. Democrats have tried to obfuscate this simple fact by scapegoating a never-ending series of boogeymen. But now even Democrats concede the truth. Talking points prepared by the House Democratic Caucus and distributed today include the magic phrase.

“Deploying some oil from the SPR would increase the supply of oil and help bring down the cost of gasoline.”

Now, Democrats don’t say how much oil they want to release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (another sure sign that this proposal is political cover rather than a serious policy). The Speaker said, “a small drawdown,” but the entire SPR holds only 706 million barrels of oil, for use in the event of national security emergency.

If Democrats believe that increasing supply by a “small” portion of that would lower prices at the pump, just think how much we could save the American people using the 86 billion barrels that the U.S. is estimated to have in deepwater energy reserves, or the 10 billion barrels beneath the Arctic coastal plain, or the 2 trillion barrels of oil from oil shale in the Western United States!

The Democrats’ talking points also repeat the discredited claim, “Democrats have a comprehensive energy strategy to lower energy costs.” They don’t. And saying they do just doesn’t make it true.

Preach on...

UPDATE 2: The Institute for Energy Research weighs in...

Washington, DC – The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) issue has reared its head again, and those who called for a halt its filling just a few weeks ago are today calling for a release of its supplies. Daniel Kish, senior vice president of the Institute for Energy Research (IER) issued the following statement:

“America’s greatest strategic reserves lie beneath taxpayer-owned lands - including ANWR’s northern coastal plain and the outer continental shelf - that are currently off limits to energy production,” Kish said. “Suspending shipments to the SPR had no affect on price, and releasing small amounts from this national security reserve won’t either. Sending a signal to the world by opening our largest national reserves will.”

The combined resources in ANWR, on the OCS, and in shale total nearly 2.1 trillion barrels of oil. The SPR was created to provide the U.S. economy with emergency supplies in the event that massive oil disruptions threatened the economy. Until recently, the United States fills the SPR with an average of 70,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which is less than one-tenth of one percent of global daily consumption and a fraction of what the United States could produce if Congress ordered an increase in domestic production.

“Americans are suffering because their government has withheld domestic energy supplies from them for 30 years,” Kish continued. “The chickens have come home to roost.”

If Congress were serious about sending a messaging to energy markets, it could immediately lift the production bans on the Outer Continental Shelf and ANWR’s coastal plain, repeal the Congressional prohibition precluding oil shale leasing, and repeal Section 526 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which prohibits federal contracting for “nonconventional” sources of petroleum transportation fuels such as heavy oils, coal-to-liquids, oil sands, oil shale and perhaps even biofuels that involve changing farmland use. For more information on what the federal government can do to lower energy prices, visit www.InstituteForEnergyResearch.org.

Why won't releasing small amounts from the SPR effect the price of oil and gas? Because OPEC can simply reduce their output by the same amount. If we really want to become independent of foreign oil, we need t oincrease OUR supply of oil rather significantly.