motnot said:
I'm willing to bet that your dislike of the president is unrelated to the oil issue, given the factual inacurracies, insults and baseless accusations in your post.
Bush's overall energy policy has certainly been lacking in substance, but the fact is that with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the president has done exactly what he said he would: fill it to its capacity and only tap it in case of a major supply disruption. And that's what the situation was in the Gulf of Mexico.
But the lending of oil from the SPR was finished BEFORE the election. And if Bush was really trying to affect the price of oil (presumably to win votes), he did a lousy job of it. A significant release of SPR oil would have a dramatic effect on crude prices, but, again, Bush stuck to his policy of not using that mechanism to affect market forces.
[post="203960"][/post]
It doesn't take a genius to figure out why the President (who's Harkin Oil start-up money came from the Kuwaiti Royal family) fills the SPR while the price of oil is it's highest in 30 years. "I'm willing to bet that your dislike of the president is unrelated to the oil issue, given the factual inacurracies, insults and baseless accusations in your post". Is it possilble to separate the two? I think not. The ENTIRE Bush family is so beholden to the Saudi Royal Family that it is laughable. It is even more frightening to think that there are people out there that do not think a man WHO started his FIRST business did not received the capital from an OIL RICH state as a loan( never repaid). A man whose father made his money in OIL. Whose father frequently visits the richest OIL producing state on the planet. The FACTS support otherwise. Drawdown of the Reserve can be authorized by the President in the event or likelihood of a "severe energy supply interruption," to meet U.S. obligations to International Energy Agency allies for emergency oil-sharing, OR
in the event of a sharp increase in the price of petroleum that would be likely to have "a major adverse impact" on the economy. Sure haven't seen THAT happen, have we?
* Created in 1975 in a series of salt domes on the
Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast in response to the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo.
* Designated by Congress to be used in response to serious supply interruptions. Limited release of up to 30 million barrels is allowed to avert a supply shortage threat or mitigate the impact of such a shortage.
* Has capacity for as much as 700 million barrels, but currently holds only 571 million barrels, equal to 59 days of oil imports.
* Maximum drawdown is 4.1 million barrels a day.
* Only used once in response to an emergency, ... Interesting how it took the effects of a few storms ( near the election) to activate the SPR and NOT the stoppage of the IRAQI oil fields ( second largest reserves on the planet after Saudi Arabi).
In the days immediately following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the Bush Administration indicated that it would not draw down the SPR in the absence of a physical shortage simply to lower prices.
On the other hand, some argued that a perceived shortage does as much and more immediate damage than a real one, and that flooding the market with stockpiled oil to calm markets is a desirable end in itself. From this perspective, the best opportunity to use the SPR during the first months of the crisis was squandered. It became clear during the fall of 1990 that, in a decontrolled market, physical shortages are less likely to occur. Instead, shortages are likely to be expressed in the form of higher prices as purchasers are free to bid as high as they wish to secure scarce supply.
Within hours of the first air strike against Iraq in January 1991, the White House announced that President Bush was authorizing a drawdown of the SPR, (too bad Jr. didn't follow in Dads footsteps on this one) and the IEA activated the plan on January 17. Crude prices plummeted by nearly $10/bbl in the next day's trading, falling below $20/bbl for the first time since the original invasion. The price drop was attributed to optimistic reports about the allied forces crippling of Iraqi air power and the diminished likelihood, despite the outbreak of war, of further jeopardy to world oil supply; the IEA plan and the SPR drawdown did not appear to be needed to help settle markets, and there was some criticism of it. Nonetheless, more than 30 million barrels of SPR oil was put out to bid, and 17.3 million barrels were sold and delivered in early 1991.
The Persian Gulf War was an important learning experience about ways in which the SPR might be deployed to maximize its usefulness in decontrolled markets.
Legislation enacted by the 101st Congress, P.L. 101-383, had liberalized drawdown authority for the SPR to allow for its use to prevent minor or regional shortages from escalating into larger ones; an example was the shortages on the West Coast and price jump that followed the Alaskan oil spill. In the 102nd Congress, omnibus energy legislation (H.R. 776, P.L. 102-486)( PRICE ARE HIGHER NOW THAN THEN) broadened the drawdown authority further to include instances where a reduction in supply has brought about a "severe" increase in the price of petroleum "severe" enough to "likely ... cause a major adverse impact on the national economy." Naw...the President doesn't have a vested interest in higher oil prices. It's all out of his contral. The OIL President and ( lets have closed secret ENERGY POLICY meetings) Cheney have our BEST interest at heart. I don't dislike the President...he has done wonders for us, improved our lives immenseley, given us memories that we will never forget....for DECADES.
