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The Clock is Ticking, Mr. Bush Judy Stillson | 8/30/05
I'm confused.
The news report today, which said that in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, five million people in the Gulf states would be without power for 6 to 8 weeks, was followed by an advisement that the prices for gas for your car, home heating oil and natural gas prices would rise.
Maybe I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, but aren't we still in a free-market, supply and demand economy? And with five million people not using much of our precious energy supplies - not driving, not using electricity, not heating or cooling their homes - shouldn't there be more gas and oil for the rest of us?
Shouldn't the prices of these things be going down instead of up?
The media keeps telling us that there's a supply disruption because the refineries and oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico may not be fully operational for some unknown time and therein lies the leap of faith by which we buy into the oil company logic. Given supply disruptions, shortages would occur. There have been no shortages reported, only the continued warnings of higher prices at the pump and in our homes.
If one is so inclined to buy into the oil company argument of supply disruption, leading to shortages, resulting in higher prices, then a couple of questions need to be answered by our inestimable leader, President Bush.
First, if there are going to be supply disruptions, when are you planning on drawing down the strategic oil reserves?
The strategic oil reserves are meant as a protective measure in times of crisis. The devastation in the gulf states is a national catastrophe with many lives at risk and many already surely lost. The President should be acting swiftly and with directness of purpose to lead our nation out of this crisis. Instead, Mr. Bush was in California making a speech and playing a round of golf.
According to the official government Department of Energy (DOE)web site, "The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the largest stockpile of government-owned emergency crude oil in the world." There are 727 million barrels in the reserve, enough to knock world oil prices for a loop, commit enough to the states of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana to help them through the next few difficult months and give the nation a break at the pump (we could use the money saved to give to the Red Cross or other charitable organizations). The average price paid by the government for this oil is $27.25 per barrel.
Drawing down the reserves makes so much sense, two US Senators even suggested it. New Jersey's Jon Corzine and New York's Charles Schumer called on the President to release the reserves.
The other question we must ask the president is, the longer we wait for your decision, would we be correct in assuming that you are really working for Exxon-Mobil instead of the American people?
After all, the Labor Day weekend is upon us and the oil companies have promised an increase in gas prices because of hurricane Katrina, so...
While you're back in Washington, "monitoring" the relief effort, the clock is ticking, Mr. Bush.
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