By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com
April 25, 2006
Hoping to ease gas prices, President Bush has ordered a temporary halt in deposits to the nation's strategic petroleum reserve and announced plans to ease some environmental rules. He also called on Congress to take back some of the billions of dollars in tax breaks that energy companies enjoy and to expand tax breaks for fuel-efficient hybrid automobiles.
Bush said the strategic reserve has enough fuel to guard against any major disruption over the next few months. Deferring further deposits makes more oil available for the consumer market.
"Every little bit helps," Bush said. Analysts said, however, that the amount of fuel involved was quite small and the suspension was likely to have little effect.
By easing environmental rules, Bush gives refiners more freedom to back off from the use of additives like ethanol that are designed to reduce air pollution.
With average gas prices hovering around $3 nationwide, politicians fear voters will take out their frustrations in this fall's off-year elections.
Bush rejected calls for higher taxes on fuel and price caps to control pump prices. Instead, he called for increased conservation, an expansion of domestic production and increased use of alternative fuels like ethanol.
The President also said he was instructing the Justice Department to investigate whether there has been any unfair manipulaton of prices and he called on states to keep an eye on activities in their regions.
