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| Home Front Economy |
| The End of Botique Fuels? |
| 2006-04-25 |
| President Bush on Tuesday ordered a temporary suspension of environmental rules for gasoline, making it easier for refiners to meet demand and possibly dampen prices at the pump. He also halted for the summer the purchase of crude oil for the government's emergency reserve. The moves came as political pressure intensified on Bush to do something about gasoline prices that are expected to stay high throughout the summer. Bush said the nation's strategic petroleum reserve had enough fuel to guard against any major supply disruption over the next few months. ``So, by deferring deposits until the fall, we'll leave a little more oil on the market. Every little bit helps,'' he said. Wholesale gasoline futures prices for June delivery dropped 8 cents a gallon to $2.10 on the New York Mercantile Exchange immediately upon Bush's remarks. Easing the environment rules will allow refiners greater flexibility in providing oil supplies since they will not have to use certain additives such as ethanol to meet clean air standards. The suspension of oil purchases for the federal emergency oil reserve is likely to have only modest impact since relative little extra oil will be involved. The high cost at the pump has turned into a major political issue, with Democrats and Republicans blaming each other for a problem that is largely out of Congress' control. Republicans are worried that voters paying more than $3 per gallon would punish the party in power. Democrats want to make that happen. |
| Posted by:Cheaderhead |
| #9 Obviously there is little or no ability to generate volume savings with the boutique approach. Of course, that was the purpose. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-04-25 19:17 |
| #8 There should be one national formulation for fuel. It is ridiculous that reqional or even municipal formulations exist. Obviously there is little or no ability to generate volume savings with the boutique approach. There is no way that the states are going to give up on the per-gallon tax. I do like the idea of the states getting additional revenue from new drilling in their state. I'm surprised that the greedy bastards haven't figured that out yet. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2006-04-25 19:14 |
| #7 Floridians would prefer to see what $100 / barrel oil does to tourism? |
| Posted by: DMFD 2006-04-25 19:12 |
| #6 I don't care about Alaska too much, but Florida ia another question entirely. Much of our economy is based on $7/hr service staffing the tourists. All hell would break loose if oil production jobs destroyed tourism. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-04-25 19:07 |
| #5 Wanna see gas prices drop by almost -- if not over -- a dollar? End the botique fuels and suspend (or end!) state and federal taxes. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-04-25 18:51 |
| #4 Here's a thought - how 'bout EXPLORING FOR SOME MORE FRICKIN OIL!!!! How come the GOP doesn't have a bill in Congress today to explore in ANWR, off both coasts and in the Gulf off Florida? Alaskans want exploration. It's not a coincidence that they get a cut of the oil revenue. Offer the same deal to the coastal states. Watch even the blue state politicos salivate at the thought of all that 'free' cash. Bush and the GOP are missing an opportunity. And we're not making good use of our natural resources. But I guess it's better to just send cash to our good 'friends' the Saudis. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2006-04-25 18:49 |
| #3 I agree completely. Nobody has wants to take the lead on this for any longer than it takes to get some headlines. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2006-04-25 17:14 |
| #2 In my area we have to use one of the Botique Blends and it causes fuel consumption to go up. Last week end I went out of town for a funeral and when I filled up on the real stuff my milage went up close to 20%. And I don't drive like an idiot either. |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2006-04-25 17:10 |
| #1 Both parties should be punished. They have done nothing but make the problem worse since 1973. Bunch of rat bastards. We have no leadership. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-04-25 17:07 |