Mike Levin: “I will vote for the Interior appropriations conference report because it contains valuable funding for Michigan's parks…”

“I will vote for the Interior appropriations conference report because it contains valuable funding for Michigan's parks, trails, museums, and forests. However, I have reservations about several aspects of this legislation. I am disappointed that the conference report does not include the language I offered with Senator Collins, unanimously adopted by the Senate, which would have directed the Department of Energy to develop procedures to ensure the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is filled in a manner that minimizes the cost to the taxpayer and maximizes the overall supply of oil in the United States. The amendment expressed the sense of the Senate that the Department of Energy's current procedures for filling the SPR are too costly for the taxpayers and have not improved our overall energy security. Since early 2002, DOE has been acquiring oil for the SPR without regard to the price of oil. Prior to that time, DOE sought to acquire more oil when the price of oil was low, and less oil when the price of oil was high. In early 2002, however, DOE abandoned this cost-based approach and instead adopted the current cost-blind approach. Because over this period the price of oil has been very high--often over $30 per barrel--and the oil markets have been tight, this cost-blind approach has increased the costs of the program to the taxpayer and put further pressure on tight oil markets, thereby helping boost oil and gasoline prices to American consumers and businesses.”