The call to release several barrels of oil from the US Petroleum Reserves comes once again with State Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, calling for President Bush to help lower gas prices.
"We're in a fuel crisis that's hitting everyone and President Bush should stop sitting on our strategic oil reserves," Turner said. "In 2000 when gas prices at the pump were skyrocketing, President Clinton ordered the release of a million barrels a day for 30 days and gas prices came down."
Senator Turner introduced SCR-68, a Senate resolution urging the president to release the fuel from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve which was set up during the energy crises of the 1970s. The request calls for a milions barrels a day for 30 days.
"Granted this action initially would provide only short-term relief, but it will work now and into the long term when linked to other strategies designed to reduced consumption," Turner said. "Our automobile designers in Detroit have to continue perfecting fuel efficient vehicles while marketing hybrids and the use of alternate sources of energy."
The Turner resolution said one of the causes of the current jump in gas prices at the pump has been "the current administration's policy of continuing to fill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve at the rate of hundreds of thousands of barrels per day."
Turner said she would request legislative action on her resolution "as soon as reasonably possible" because of the emergent nature of the fuel price crisis on working families.