Political Quotes

“In addition to finding that the energy markets needed better regulation and oversight, the report issued by my subcommittee in 2003 also found that the Bush administration's large deposits of oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve--SPR--were increasing prices but not overall U.S. energy security. We found that in 2002, the Bush administration, over the repeated objections of its own experts in the Department of Energy, had changed its policy and decided to put oil into the SPR regardless of the price of oil or market conditions. By placing oil into the SPR while oil prices were high and oil supplies were tight, the administration's deposits into the SPR were reducing market supplies and boosting prices, with almost no benefit to national security, given the fact that the SPR is more than 95 percent filled. The DOE experts believed that in a tight market, we are better off with keeping the oil on the market rather than putting it into the ground where it cannot be used. Following the issuance of this report, in early 2003 I asked the Department of Energy to suspend its filling of the SPR until prices had abated and supplies were more plentiful. DOE refused to change course and continued the SPR fill without regard to market supplies or prices.”