Pumping up Prices: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve and Record Gas Prices
Channel: HouseResourceOrg
Date: 2011-04-15

Pumping up Prices: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve and Record Gas Prices - Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming - 2008-04-24 - $119--a record price for a barrel of oil, reached today. $3.51--today's record price for an average gallon of gas in America. 70,000 barrels--the amount of oil the Bush administration buys daily at these record prices to continue filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). In light of all of these factors, Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing to explore the effect of filling the reserve on the current spike in oil and gas prices and on America's economy. The hearing featured representatives from the trucking industry, which has been hit particularly hard by high gas prices, a consumer advocate who will talk about how high gas prices are hitting all drivers and families in America, and several industry analysts to discuss the policies surrounding filling the SPR. WITNESS: * Dr. Mark Cooper, Director of Research, Consumer Federation of America; * Mr. Dave Berry, Vice President, Swift Transportation Company, Inc., Chairman, Energy and Environment Policy Committee, American Trucking Association; * Mr. Frank Rusco, Acting Director, Natural Resources and Environment, GAO; * Ms. Melanie Kenderdine, Associate Director, Strategic Planning, MIT Energy Initiative; * Mr. Kevin Book, Senior Vice President, Senior Analyst, Energy Policy, Oil and Alternative Energy, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey and Company, Inc.  Video provided by the U.S. House of Representatives.