If you listen to right-wing AM talk radio, or watch FOX news, you'll get the impression that the reasons for the price of fuel being so high are many, and that they are mostly to be blamed on environmentalists, Nancy Pelosi and - if you're listening to Anchorage talk radio - Governor Sarah Palin.The reality, though, is far from that. Far more of the dollars you pay at the pump go to commodity and futures speculators than go to taxes, meeting the requirements of regulators and environmental laws, and so on.
Here's what John Ponder of the Pensito Review has to say about it:
Drilling off the coast of California, Florida and elsewhere would increase domestic oil production by 7 percent by 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration. But “because oil prices are determined on the international market…any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.” There is no short-term benefit to drilling, says the EIA, because it would take at least five years for oil production to begin. (Source: Center for American Progress.)
On the other hand, in a single step tomorrow --- closing the Enron Loophole --- Congress and George Bush could create an overnight drop in oil prices of between 25 and 50 percent. This is according to testimony before a Senate Committee two weeks ago by Michael Greenberger, the former director of Trading & Markets for the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), the government board that oversees commodities markets.
"Yes," Greenberger testified, "overnight [closing the Enron Loophole] will bring down the price of crude oil to get at least a 25 percent drop in the cost of oil and a corresponding drop in the cost of gasoline. Some people estimate 50 percent."
Greenberger's testimony was brought to light by an investigation into the Enron Loophole by Keith Olbermann on MSNBC's "Countdown" last week:hat tip to Bradblog...
image by Darkblack
Update - 3:30 p.m. Sunday: The Anchorage Daily News Politics blog has two videos of Sen. Ted Stevens introducing the proposed Feinstein-Stevens legislation, one of several bills already or about to be introduced. Their bill, in the words of Fairbanks Daily-News Miner reporter, Robert Dillon, "is more limited in scope than some of the other proposals floating around the Senate. Sen. Obama will be introducing his own legislation this coming week.
The Begich campaign can't let Sen. Stevens get away with this shameless piece of fake bipartisanship. Both he and Sen. Feinstein, perhaps the closest thing the Democrats in the Senate have to Ted, enabled the Sen. Gramm legislation back around the turn of the century to be enacted in the first place. It has cost Americans hundreds of billions, perhaps more.
Commenter kelly at PA, says, "both nationally syndicated talk show host Randi Rhodes and our very own Shannyn Moore(KUDO 1080am) covered the Enron Loophole and Michael Greenberger's Congressional Testimony before Keith Olbermann did. Keith's producers listen to Randi's show everyday and much of his material, while great, is often covered just after Randi! 2 weeks ago, Shannyn was talking about the oil speculators and how 1. There IS NO SHORTAGE of oil; 2. There are no gas stations in the US that are out of or rationing gas; 3. US refineries are operating at 89% capacity; 4. Oil Producers have increased drilling since 2000 by 66% while gas prices have continued to rise; 5. Only 10.5 million of the 44 million leased offshore acres of known reserves are actually producing oil and gas.
"Bottom Line...The Enron Loophole was closed with legislation tucked into the farm bill. BUT...the problem is again with Bush cronies NOT enforcing the law."