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BINGAMAN: The starting point for the [Senate briefing by oil experts] was one fundamental truth: the primary driver of the price for gasoline at the pump is the price of crude oil. This chart [above] was one of the key ones used by EIA Administrator Newell. It shows the price trends since 2005 for gasoline (in yellow) and crude oil (in green)…. [F]or the last 3 years, gasoline price movements have exactly tracked global crude oil prices. The idea that our gasoline prices are high today because of some policy of the Obama Administration is just not supported by the facts….
The bulk of the discussion at the briefing that we held on Tuesday about high oil prices was about what is going on in the Middle East and North Africa. It should be obvious that this is the major force driving oil prices…. As you can see from this chart [below], oil prices are very sensitive to these kinds of developments….
But what can Congress do to help ease the burden of high prices for U.S. consumers, when oil prices are determined mostly outside our borders? I think a realistic, responsible answer has to be focused on becoming less vulnerable to oil price changes over the medium- and long-term. And we become less vulnerable by using less oil.
Senator Bingaman (D-NM), who is not known for his eloquence, gave a better speech on oil last week than President Obama ever has. Why? Why are Democrats so lame in talking about this potentially winning issue?
Photo by dynamix.
