Daily News
May 21, 2001

Not Enough Mileage in Bush Energy Plan
US Senator Charles E. Schumer

Last Thursday, President Bush released his long-awaited energy report. I've been warning New Yorkers for some time that we're sitting on the precipice of an energy crisis. Last summer's soaring electricity prices, this winter's high home heating oil prices and this spring's skyrocketing gas prices all point in that direction, so President Bush's decision to bring the issue into the national spotlight is commendable. Unfortunately, many of his solutions are not.

The President's plan isn't all bad, even for New York. It recommends appropriating more money for home heating assistance for the poor and elderly. It recommends streamlining refining regulations, which would help refineries process gas more quickly and keep costs down. It recommends building and modernizing electricity transmission lines, which would help Long Island import desperately needed power from New England. And it recommends increasing block grants to states to make homes more energy efficient, which would help homeowners reduce their electricity and home heating bills.

But it doesn't go far enough. The President's plan does little, if anything, to address the price spikes driving the price of a gallon of gas towards – and sometimes over – $2 per gallon. Most New Yorkers cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars more this summer on gasoline. Although gas prices are in large part market driven, there's a proven solution that can help bring down prices and keep OPEC in line: using oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

Last September, President Clinton released thirty million barrels of oil from the SPR, and the price of crude oil fell from $38 per barrel to consistently under $30. Since seventy percent of the price of gasoline is based on the price of crude oil, gas prices fell significantly too. By taking the SPR off the table, the President has given OPEC the green light to cut production and raise prices without reservation or hesitation. Using the SPR is not the long-term solution to the gas price crisis, but it will bring down prices in the short-term, and right now, that's what New Yorkers need.

The President's plan also fails to effectively address the gas price crisis in the long-term. He supports drilling for more oil, and I agree, provided it is done in an environmentally sound way. We should increase drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Rockies. But he misses the mark by failing to support an important piece of bipartisan legislation I've authored that would make SUVs and minivans as fuel efficient as cars. SUVs and minivans are used as cars, and they should be treated as cars. Increasing their fuel efficiency standards would save over one million barrels of oil per day, reduce our oil imports by 10%, improve air quality, and bring down gas prices for everyone. Increasing the supply through more drilling and then wasting it through inefficient vehicles makes little sense. Both halves of the equation are necessary, and if the President will support making SUVs and minivans more fuel efficient, I will lobby many of my Democratic colleagues to support more domestic drilling.

Increase the supply, manage the demand. That's what a comprehensive, sensible energy policy – both for New York and the nation – requires, and it's why the President's plan unfortunately falls short.