In summer 2008, gasoline climbed to $4 a gallon across the country.
When Wall Street collapsed, gasoline prices plummeted as we entered a historic global economic downturn. The global economy is recovering and it is accompanied by an increased oil demand, tight supplies and higher gasoline prices.
As any political reporter can tell you, Republicans in Congress see higher gasoline prices as a prospect for electoral success.
They are trying hard to blame President Barack Obama and will say anything, no matter how far-fetched, to hold him responsible. They even say he is against domestic oil production, when the fact is that U.S. oil production is the highest it has been in eight years.
This country has more oil and gas drilling rigs operating now than the rest of the world combined.
Why hasn’t this increased production reduced prices at the pump?
What every energy expert knows (and some Republicans will reluctantly admit) is that gasoline prices are driven by the global price of oil.
In a thorough statistical analysis, The Associated Press recently examined the past 36 years of U.S. oil production and gasoline prices and found that domestic production has had no effect whatsoever on gasoline prices.
Just look at Canada, which produces so much oil that it exports 70 percent of it. Their gasoline prices are even higher than ours. Canadian consumers are whipsawed by the same global oil price fluctuations that affect us.
There is no silver bullet for our energy challenges. The only real solution is to reduce our dependence on oil by making a transition to the clean energy technologies of the future.
To achieve these goals, President Barack Obama has called for ending the billions of dollars in unjustified subsidies the oil companies receive every year and using the funds to support investments in clean energy, including electric and natural gas vehicles and wind and solar energy.
House Republicans have stymied these needed efforts. They vote to preserve special tax breaks for oil companies and to slash federal support for fledgling clean energy technologies.
Using his administrative powers, the president has called for new auto standards that will raise average fuel efficiency to 55 miles per gallon by 2025. These standards will let American motorists drive past the pumps, saving more than $8,000 per vehicle. Incredibly, House Republicans oppose these efforts, too.
We’ve seen the same movie over and over again for the past 30 years.
Gasoline prices go up, politicians make false promises about how they will bring prices down, and nothing gets accomplished.
We need to face facts, listen to the experts and put aside partisanship to craft policies that finally will start to end our dangerous over-reliance on oil.
U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif.
About the Author
