More Bush oil games.

Bush Eases Environmental Rules on Gasoline

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer Tue Apr 25, 11:11 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Under election-year pressure to reduce surging gasoline prices,
President Bush on Tuesday halted filling of the nation's emergency oil
reserve, urged the waiver of clean air rules to ease local gas shortages and
called for the repeal of $2 billion in tax breaks for profit-heavy oil
companies.

Still, experts said Bush's actions wouldn't have much impact on prices at
the pump. The president warned that motorists would have to dig deep into
their pockets all summer long.

Bush urged lawmakers to expand tax breaks for the purchase of fuel-efficient
hybrid automobiles, a politically popular measure that's also supported by
environmentalists. He also directed the
Environmental Protection Agency to use its authority to temporarily waive
air quality laws in states if that would relieve a local gasoline supply
shortage.

The White House was unable to say how much Bush's actions could affect the
price of gas.

Bush said, "Every little bit helps."

Wholesale gasoline futures prices for June delivery dropped 8 cents a gallon
to $2.10 on the New York Mercantile Exchange right after Bush's remarks. May
gasoline futures settled at $2.1291 a gallon, a decline of 4.48 cents.

Democrats, eager to blame Republicans for high gas costs ahead of the
November congressional elections, said Bush has had five years to find a way
to lower prices and has favored big oil companies over consumers.

"It's crystal clear that the current spike in gas prices is at least partly
due to an act of greed," said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who proposed a
60-day suspension of the federal gas tax. "Greed that has been enabled,
abetted - even encouraged, I would say - by this administration."

****************Partly due???? ********************

The country's three largest oil and gas companies were expected to report
combined first-quarter profits later in the week in excess of $16 billion, a
19 percent surge from last year. Bush, a former oilman, asked his
administration to investigate possible price gouging and said Congress
should revoke about $2 billion in tax breaks that Congress approved and he
signed into law to encourage exploration.

************** possible price gouging?
Hell, when he signed that damned law - the oil companies were still making
good profits.
Now would be a good time to see if that "gift" actually made any difference
in their exploration. ********


"Cash flows are up," Bush said. "Taxpayers don't need to be paying for
certain of these expenses on behalf of the energy companies."

************* Holy ***! He almost sounds like a liberal! I guess that's the
only alternative when greedy conservative policies screw the hell out of the
public. **************

Menendez spoke at a press conference where Democrats sought to turn gas
prices - like Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war - into an issue to
undermine Bush's standing with voters. "What happened to Iraq oil, Mr.
President? You said Iraqi oil would pay for the war. Ain't seen no money.
Ain't seen no oil," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (news, bio, voting record) of
Maryland.

The suspension of oil purchases for the federal emergency oil reserve until
the fall is likely to have only a modest impact. The halt in deposits
involves only 12 million barrels - less than the 20 million barrels of oil
used every day in the United States for transportation.

Bush resisted calls for a suspension of shipments to the reserve in the
past. When his 2004 presidential opponent, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.,
suggested the same idea during the campaign, Bush called it "playing
politics."

*************** Another great example of the Bush "flip-flop". *************

On Tuesday, Bush said the nation's 685-million barrel petroleum reserve had
enough fuel to guard against any major supply disruption over the next few
months.

The president said Democrats in the past have urged higher taxes on fuel and
price caps to control fuel expenses, but he said neither approach works.
Instead, he called for increased conservation, an expansion of domestic
production and increased use of alternative fuels such as ethanol.

**** When has anyone actually TRIED putting caps on fuel prices - or, more
specifically, profits of oil companies.
You CAN'T say it didn't work if you never tried it!!! *************


David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists said an even more
effective move would be to require that vehicles sold in the United States
get higher gas mileage.

"The fundamental problem is that the fuel economy of cars and trucks is a
disgrace and the world is just consuming too much oil and gasoline,"
Friedman said.

The EPA said it will consider fuel waivers on a case-by-case basis if
gasoline supply problems become apparent, which could result in price spikes
or shortages of cleaner summer-blend gasoline.

EPA spokesman John Millett said the waivers would not adversely impact air
quality because they are only for 20 days, although states can request
extensions.

Refiners, meanwhile, said that most of the change to summer-blend gasoline
already has been completed and waivers may not be needed - and might even be
counterproductive in some cases.

"You're going to have to be careful that you're not upsetting a plan that
already is in the last stage of implementation," said Bob Slaughter,
president of National Petrochemical Refiners Association.

********* "a plan"? The only "plan" I see is the plan to suck the money out
of he public by the oil companies.
No ...... we certainly don't want to do anything stupid .... like interfere
with THAT plan!

What appears to be happening is Bush, still covering the ass of the oil
companies, is now taking the "liberal/environmental" route. Why? Because
that route will take a LONG time to implement - and, in the meantime, oil
companies profits will suck us dry!
In the mean time - any direct actions against oil company profits only come
down to a VERY WEAK, non-committal "investigation by congress of possible
price gouging". ************

****** BTW ......... any republicans who whine about the price of gasoline -
*** OFF - YOU put the administration in there!!!! **************


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