Watch the Energy and Power Subcommittee Convenes Hearing on “The American Energy Initiative: A Focus on Rising Gasoline Prices.”
The media release is below.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 7, 2012
CONTACT: Press Office
(202) 226-4972
Energy and Power Subcommittee Convenes Hearing on “The American Energy Initiative: A Focus on Rising Gasoline Prices”
Live Webcast
Click here to watch the hearing beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET
Opening Statement of Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-KY)
Today’s hearing, another installment of the “American Energy Initiative,” allows us to discuss the topic of rising gasoline prices.
Pump prices have risen sharply over the past three months from $3.35 a gallon the week of December 5 to $3.85 a gallon this week.
High gasoline prices hit the pocketbook of every business, family, and consumer. To make matters worse, with an economy struggling to create jobs and new income, rising gas prices equate to a tax on everyone.
The latest surge offers an opportunity to take a look at what is happening in oil and gasoline markets as well as what the federal government can do to help moderate high prices.
Opening Statement of Full Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI)
Many factors contribute to the high price of gasoline. Some, like Middle East instability and rising global demand, are largely outside of the federal government’s control. For that reason, it is absolutely critical to get right those things that we can control. None of America’s pain at the pump should be self-inflicted, which is why we must do more to increase domestic and North American oil supplies, and to streamline the federal regulatory burden on gasoline.
With prices zeroing in on $4.00 a gallon, President Obama has begun to say some of the right things about high gas prices. But he continues to do all of the wrong things. In fact, the president’s approach has not changed since he took office in January of 2009. Gas was around $1.85 per gallon back then, and one of the president’s very first initiatives, before Deepwater Horizon, was to cancel many oil leases on federal lands. And his 2012-2017 Offshore Leasing Plan re-imposes the moratorium that Congress and the White House lifted back in 2008. So much for that progress.
Witness Testimony and Additional Background
Click here to view the hearing background memo and witness testimony on the Energy and Commerce Committee website.
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Thanks for the video link! Can’t watch, but passed it on.