Bush's flip-flop on oil

Posted By Carolyn O'Hara Wednesday, April 26, 2006 - 1:16 PM Share

President Bush was against playing politics with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve before he was for it. Asked in May 2004 about John Kerry's suggestion to halt shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to combat rising gas prices, Bush responded:

[W]e will not play politics with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That Petroleum Reserve is in place in case of major disruptions of energy supplies to the United States. The idea of emptying the Strategic Petroleum Reserve plays -- would put America in a dangerous position in the war on terror. We're at war.... And we must not put ourselves in a worse position in this war. And playing politics with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would do just that.

Now additions to the reserve are suspended until the fall:

The President Supports Halting Deposits To The Strategic Petroleum Reserve For A Short Period Of Time. The President has directed the Department of Energy to defer filling the Reserve this summer. Our Strategic Reserve is sufficiently large to guard against any major supply disruption over the next few months. Deferring deposits until the fall will leave a little more oil on the market - and when supplies are tight, every little bit counts.

Guess those plans in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to "expeditiously" expand the reserve from its current 727 million barrel capacity to one billion barrels are on hold until November?

EXPLORE:BUSH ADMINISTRATION, OIL

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