Schumer Says Bush Needs To Release Oil Reserves
By WILLIAM KATES Associated Press Writer
January 6, 2003, 2:52 PM EST SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It will cost upstate New Yorkers hundreds of dollars more this winter to drive their cars and heat their homes unless President Bush agrees to dip into the nation's oil reserves to help check soaring prices, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Monday.
"This is something we cannot choose to ignore, certainly when people are having to spend hundreds of dollars out of their pockets," said Schumer, standing next to a gas pump at a service station just off the New York State Thruway.
"With oil prices continuing to rise and the possibility of further disruptions, I'd call that an emergency," Schumer said.
Schumer said he was renewing his call on the Bush administration to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The New York Democrat joins a growing number of lawmakers from both parties who are asking the president to use the emergency government reserve to help consumers.
Last week, Bush ruled out using the reserve, which was created in 1975 to deal with oil emergencies and has nearly 600 million barrels of oil.
The president said the reserve should be used only to combat severe supply shortages and not to influence prices. No one at the White House was immediately available Monday to comment about Schumer's remarks.
"For the president to simply tell the world that he will put that oil out there if prices continue to go higher will stabilize prices and bring them down. The prices of oil products are going through the roof," said Schumer, noting that oil futures were up 25 percent since November and at a two-year high.
A month-old strike in Venezuela and unrest in the Middle East, now agitated further by a looming U.S.-Iraq war, have combined to tighten supplies and vault prices higher and higher, Schumer said. Venezuela is the fourth-largest exporter of oil to the United States, providing about 1.5 million barrels a day, or about 14 percent of the nation's total imported oil.
In central New York, that choked market has pushed the average cost of a gallon of gas to $1.56, which is nearly 40 percent higher than last year and is expected to climb another 10 cents a gallon.
"It's cut into my business about 10 percent already," said gas station owner Arthur Hayes, who hosted Schumer on Monday.
"There's not a whole lot I can do about it. I'm on a fixed budget. I can't absorb the increase, I have to pass it along. I hear the complaints from my customers. I know they're hurting but so am I," Hayes said.
Meanwhile, Schumer said the average cost of residential heating oil in central New York was $1.38 per gallon, a 21 percent increase over last year. Federal regulators predict the cost will likely reach as much as $1.50 to $1.55 a gallon this winter.
"Together, this is maybe $600, $700 of real money coming out of the pockets of average people. Over the course of a winter, these increases add up and could really hurt hard working families already struggling in a soft economy," the senator said.
In fall 2000, President Clinton bowed to repeated requests from Schumer and other legislative leaders to tap into the reserve by releasing 30 million barrels over 30 days. Prices quickly fell by over 10 percent and helped stabilize gas prices for nearly a year, Schumer said.
(updated: January 6th, 3:15pm) Senator Chuck Schumer continues to urge the president to reign in the rising cost of fuel. Today he was in Colonie to release new data on Capital Region gas and heating oil prices.
According to Schumer's office, the average home heating bill in the Capital Region will go up $265 this winter. Heating oil prices are already up 18%, and that number is expected to double. Gas prices are expected to increase as much as 50 cents per gallon. The price at the pump is already up 37% compared to last year. Much of the increase is being blamed on the deepening oil strike in Venezuela and the increasing likelihood of war with Iraq.
The numbers do not bode well for local wallets, but Schumer has at least one idea to lessen the impact. The senator wants President Bush to consider tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The stockpile was created in 1975 to deal with oil emergencies in the United States. Schumer says we are getting there, but the White House does not agree. The Bush administration says it won't even consider using the reserve.
Senator Schumer was at the Super Mart Gas Station on Central Avenue in Colonie to release new price statistics for the Capital Region.
It appears the senator is trying to sway New Yorkers in an effort to get the president's attention.