Shades of Carter and the Gas Lines

Bush will probably have a million excuses for the gasoline shortages and high prices. When California had high electric bills back in late 2000 and 2001, Bush blamed the problem on market forces. It turns out that some of Bush's friends in the energy sector (Bush nicknamed Kenneth Lay of Enron 'Kenny Boy' and flew in his corporate jet at times during the 2000 campaign) were not only gouging California, they were manipulating supplies to drive up prices. Of course, the noise that Bush had made about attacking Iran has itself been a factor.

Yes, there are other reasons prices are high. We're not exactly seeing gas lines yet (I can remember thirty cars being in front of me in the 70s) but the East Coast has been having supply problems presumably because of a changeover in formulation. Some gas stations have had to close:

As if rising prices weren't enough, the tanks have run dry at some Philadelphia-area service stations in the last few days as the refining industry stumbles through a change in the formulation of gasoline.

Oil refiners are phasing out a petrochemical that makes gasoline burn cleaner but which also has been found to contaminate groundwater. Refiners are switching to corn-based ethanol.

The changeover is creating supply-chain bottlenecks because much work must be done at fuel terminals and service stations to handle ethanol.

The maintenance-related shutdown of one area refinery, production problems at another, and the change from winter-blend to summer-blend gasoline are exacerbating the problems.

"There is truly a dearth of supply in the Philly and New York markets today," Wayne Hummel, of Liberty Petroleum L.L.C., said yesterday. His firm supplies 40 stations in the Philadelphia region.

Republicans, who have been Big Oil's best buddies for over twenty-five years are getting nervous and following the Bush method when his numbers are in danger: lie first, tell the voters what they want to hear and return to business as usual when nobody's looking; Think Progress has the story:

Today, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) released a joint letter with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) calling for congressional investigations into possible price gouging by oil companies: "We believe that protecting American consumers in these unprecedented market conditions is of paramount importance. […] Consistent with our constitutional authority, we will ask the committees of jurisdiction to conduct oversight of these important questions."

Congress should investigate gasoline price gouging, but it is unclear whether Frist will follow through.

(snip)

[Last year,] the Senate Energy and Commerce held hearings in which executives from Exxon and Chevron tried to defend their companies’ record profits. Yet committee chairman Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) refused to swear them in, and in the end, nothing was accomplished.

The American people deserve better this time around. If hearings do occur, these oil CEOs should be called in as witnesses, but they should be required to tell Americans the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about their business practices.

How many real investigations has the Republican leadership in Congress conducted in the last five years? And how many real investigations have they blocked? No one will be holding their breath on this one.