DORGAN'S EFFORT TO SUSPEND FILLING STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE SIGNED INTO LAW
"This is a first step, but we must do more to put downward pressure on gas prices"
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
CONTACT: Justin Kitsch
or Brenden Timpe
PHONE: 202-224-2551
(WASHINGTON, DC) – Senator Byron Dorgan scored a victory for American consumers last night when President Bush signed legislation into law to stop putting oil underground in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) for the remainder of 2008. Dorgan authored legislation calling for this action in February of this year, and led the charge in the Senate to get this bill enacted into law.
“With gas prices around four dollars a gallon and oil over $120 per barrel, I am happy this law will force the Bush Administration to stop putting 70,000 barrels of oil underground everyday,” said Dorgan. “This is a first step, but we must do more to put downward pressure on gas prices.”
Dorgan said another step to bring down the cost of energy is to limit the rampant speculation in the oil commodity futures market.
“There is an orgy of speculation in the oil futures market,” said Dorgan. “Speculators are using money they don’t have to control oil they’ll never use. This may help the speculators’ profits, but it hurts American drivers and our economy because it keeps oil prices artificially high.”
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