Jack Kingston

Washington, Sep 15, 2005 - Today, U.S. Representative Jack Kingston (R-Savannah), the vice-chairman of the House Republican Conference, helped announce the formation of a Congressional task force which will work to find immediate solutions to help ease the burden of high gasoline prices.

The Gas Price Task Force was announced today by House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) and is comprised of nine Members of Congress. Kingston is the only Member from Georgia.

“Now more than ever we need to work together to find immediate solutions to lower gas prices at the pump, and I am pleased to join the team which has been tasked to do just that,” Kingston said. “The gas price spike due to Hurricane Katrina highlights the challenge our nation faces when there is a hiccup in our supply of oil, but it also offers us an opportunity to collectively find solutions now to ensure that gas prices come back down soon and do not explode in the future.”

The task force’s first action was a letter to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on September 9 commending their prompt actions to provide short-term motor fuel specification waivers and advocating for approval of pending fuel waiver requests, designed to temporarily reduce the number of boutique fuels required throughout the country. These boutique fuels cause the price of gasoline to spike during emergencies, such as Hurricane Katrina, which take refineries that produce the special blends off-line.

“While there is some good news coming out of the Gulf Coast regarding the restoration of crude production, refining capacity, and pipeline transportation, we are concerned that gasoline and diesel fuel inventories have not had the chance to recover enough to allow for the expiration of current waivers or to stop considering additional measures to bring more motor fuel supplies to the market,” wrote the members of the Task Force.