Sunday, May 27, 2007
Editorial: How do you spell relief?
Certainly not S-H-E-L-L, or E-X-X-O-N - M-O-B-I-L. In Congress, proposed relief has been rebuffed.
From the RoundTable blog
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Just as surely as American flags are brought out to mark Memorial Day, prices at the gas pump rise and give members of Congress their annual bout of indigestion.
Congress has proposed some gas relief to quiet Americans pain at the pumps.
Unfortunately, the proposals -- an anti-price gouging bill and a windfall profits tax among them -- will turn out to be feel-good measures that evaporate during the summer.
So goes the annual ritual.
This year, the posturing began when several senators took aim at oil companies by standing in front of an Exxon station near the Capitol.
It's a great photo-op; lawmakers purge themselves of the frustration of watching prices -- and oil company profits -- reach record highs.
The ritual then evolves into a song and dance with well-meaning proposals that quickly fade until next year. Americans, meanwhile, join the chorus that rails against big oil. Fat lot that does to ease the pain of dropping a quick $50 to fill the tank.
Big oil just hums along, barely acknowledging consumers' anguish, because as John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co, explained big oil is pained as well.
His company has been touring the country for about a year, meeting with the public and politely taking abuse on the chin from angry consumers.
When Hofmeister was asked recently about the perception that oil companies are a "bunch of thieves," ripping people off, he deftly shifted consumers' frustration over rising gas prices to consumer fear about the country running out of oil and gas.
"The reality is, we're not," he said. It's just that Congress limits oil and gas exploration to just 15 percent of the outer continental shelf. That leaves 85 percent untouched.
"If we don't bring more oil and gas into the system, we'll have to pay more and more and more," he said. "I'd hate to see prices double or triple what they are today because we failed to explore more gas and oil."
Nice threat. Opening up America's coasts to exploration for product that may or may not even exist isn't an answer. It especially is not an answer to why prices are high now.
Don't expect one from Hofmeister or any big oil executives. It could be as simple as this: Gas prices tend to run up prior to Memorial Day and the kickoff to the summer driving season, according to a Washington Post story.
Americans can either accept it or stay home.
