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“INTRODUCTION OF THE OIL PRICE SAFEGUARD ACT FOR 2004” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2110-E2111 on Nov. 20, 2004.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
INTRODUCTION OF THE OIL PRICE SAFEGUARD ACT FOR 2004
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HON. JOHN B. LARSON
of connecticut
in the house of representatives
Friday, November 19, 2004
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Oil Price Safeguard Act for 2004, a bill that would tackle the problem of petroleum market manipulation and today's skyrocketing oil costs.
Specifically, the Oil Price Safeguard Act would require the President to make a decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve if prices stay above $35 per barrel for two consecutive weeks (last year's average daily price was about $31 per barrel), and require direct oversight reporting to the House Commerce Committee and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
The U.S. government currently keeps oil in the strategic petroleum reserve for national security purposes, and to deal with short-term economic problems that could arise from oil shocks. Currently, there are 669 million barrels of oil in the reserve--enough to last 90 days if all foreign sources of oil were denied to the United States. Since the creation of the SPR in the early 1970s, it has only been used once--during the first Gulf War. After the SPR was drawn down during the first days of the Gulf War, crude oil prices dropped nearly $10 per barrel, which at the time was nearly a 50 percent price reduction.
We must take action on this today, because the future energy outlook is grim. Consistently high oil prices have a devastating effect on Americans simply trying to heat and cool their homes, on small businesses just trying to keep up with the cost of doing business, and on the overall economy as more and more disposable income from people and business is bundled off to foreign countries to pay for oil. Future predictions are so dire that the October 2004 Short-term Energy Outlook published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) at the Department of Energy is predicting that in 2005, high world oil prices will begin to slow the pace of world economic growth and that high current and projected crude oil costs suggest that large reductions in average gasoline prices are unlikely anytime soon.
The United States economy should not be held hostage to foreign oil interests. The effect of using the SPR during the early 1990s was clear. I urge my colleagues to join me to ensure that the President has every tool available at his disposal to fight rising oil prices that impact our economy and provide relief to the millions of Americans and small businesses affected by skyrocketing oil prices.
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