We should go one step further and reduce the highway speed limit to 55MPH. This would reduce our fuel usage by at the least 20%. This would have a direct results in reducing the price per barrel of oil.

Talk about attacking a problem from the wrong end... The dollar, the war and Bush's complete inability to wield diplomacy are closer to the disaster than the strategic oil reserve. Suspending the filling of the reserve is almost as stupid as cutting the federal gas tax or maybe it is more stupid. Ask Bush, he knows stupid and would be able to provide genus and species I am sure.

Bush has been trying to open the other Alaska Wildlife area for years. It won't benifit the US citizens anymore than the current oil field and pipe line did. All that oil is being exported to Japan. The pipe line should have gone to the midwest for refining and distribution to serve the US citizens. The only thing that has been acomplished was huge financial gains for the oil companies. The oil pumped in the last 25 years from Akaska would have kept us going with a surplus.

He and his cronies must have a lot of stock in oil.

Reid says suspending filling of the reserves is
a start ????? But, drilling in Anwar is not?
Does anybody believe anything other than this
is a "feel good" about your local democrats load
of bs? Boy, I can hardly wait for that surplus
of oil to plunge the price of oil.

What's stupid is not drilling here at home.All you idiots don't want to drill in Anwar(wasteland.. flown over it) or 200 miles off the coast (Can't see the rigs from all the Hollywood stars homes on the coast). Solar and wind can't even replace 10% of fuel usage, and the corn farmers are laughing all the way to the bank with stupid ethanol....which requires twice as much energy to produce than refining gasoline. Cattle and poultry feed(Corn) have tripled... and no one whats to plant Wheat, soybean, hops or any other grains..no money in it...hence skyrocketing prices. Have you seen the earnings at Deer and Cat.

From here on, gas prices are simply going to climb regardless of what we do. Between US population/usage increases, and the increase of consumption in China and India, oil demands are going to keep increasing. But since oil production is either at or near peak, the only thing that's left is for prices to increase.

The world is in for some serious problems in the next decade or so - there's just no other possible scenario.

William, that is a great idea. It was tried by the Nixon Administration and was a total failure, not because it isn't a great idea but because 1. Americans want to drive fast on the interstate and are so selfish about it they won't slow down to help the situation. Just like Americans want to talk on cellphones while they drive no matter how many studies say it is dangerous. 2. There aren't enough State Troopers to enforce a 55 mph speed limit to the point where it would be effective. It would be nice if we were the type of society willing to pull together and help lower gas prices by consuming less
but Americans have a less than stellar track record on pulling together about anything that they don't want to do. I'm afraid they will need a much bigger dose of reality to get the idea that the situation calls for an action of this nature on their part. But it's still a good idea.

The majority of people will not conserve voluntarily. If they were, they would be driving at 55 miles per hour already. Conservation must be mandated and enforced.

William,

Every vehicle has a different mph / mpg sweet spot. To assume that every vehicle's sweet spot is 55 mph is absurd.

To the commenter William,

I don't think the 55 MPH method is a universal truth. It all depends on how cars handle different speeds. Let's say your destination is 100 miles away you can either go 55 MPH (@1800 RPMs) or 70 MPH (@2200 RPMs). In the end, you save gas with the 70 MPH option because it only takes you 85 minutes to get to your destination (~188,000 total revs) versus 109 minutes (~196,000 total revs). I'm not saying you're wrong, but I guess it all depends on the car, engine, driver, etc. in the end.

I think the suspension of stockpiling our reserves may not be a solution, but it IS a step in the right direction. It cuts back on oil company profits or anyone in, say... the commander-in-chief position(!) who has a big stake in oil.

I agree with Obama's common sense stand on the federal gas excise tax but I also agree with Bush on the strategic oil reserve. The fact that we have it has prevented the Middle East from cutting off oil as a threat. It might not hurt to cut back our add rate but we shouldn't cut it all together. We must cut speed limits drive more wisely and keep seeking alternatives.

The way to bring down the gas prices is to stop buying any more gas than is absolutely needed. (no unnecessary travel, lower speeds, and more efficient vehicles).
It's simple market forces at work, the law of supply and demand. When there is a large supply available, the sellers want to continue sales (making profits), and they MUST sell product in order to make money. If there are few sales, they MUST lower prices.
But, when demand is high, they can raise prices as they desire, up to the point where sales fall off too much.
Pretty soon, whether our government meddles in the situation or not, demand will go down, and then prices will fall. It's the LAW.

The first comment makes no sense at all, reduce speed to 55, we have already shown that this does not reduce the amount of consumption nor price. Regarding the second comment, stupid must look in mirror first before pressing send.

to William L. Van Matre:

You're on the right path, but lowering the speed limit won't stop the speeders. How about a "Sin Tax" on speeding tickets, with the money going to Universities for future fuel research and development? Instead of a $100 speeding ticket, the offender gets the regular $100 fee, plus a gasoline misuse tax of another $100. This money will go to a fund where researchers can apply for and use it to find new sources of energy.

I'd hate to be the guy that gets caught speeding in a construction zone where the fines are doubled... with this new tax, the fine would be tripled! If $4 and $5 gas doesn't slow the Speeders on our highways, THIS NEW TAX WILL slow them down...

A better idea would be to immediately mandate higher CAFE standards for all cars and trucks. But it's not until the auto industry as a whole realizes the economic mandate 'The Consumer' is sending by purchasing vehicles with higher efficiency standards will any progress be made on the end. On that note, I was looking at used cars on Craigslist the other day, and SUV's are on the whole being dumped for $1,000's less than they were six months ago. I saw a perfectly good newer Jeep Grand Cherokee (12-15mpg) going for $2,000! And 18 year old beat up Honda's with 35mpg going for the same! Ha ha!

It seems to me that our Government can, and has in the past, been able to "steamroll" legislation when they really want to and if the crisis dictates. I firmly believe that if the U.S. wants to push to open previously closed drilling areas, then no matter what environmentalist groups may have to say about it, it WILL happen. As it is now, I am of the opinion that GW and his oil-sodden buddies (including the Saudis and other members of OPEC) are playing the environmental card to intentionally keep oil prices up. This is especially disturbing because the Bush administration has the absolutle worst environmental record in recent history. The bottom line here is greed. I know that if I had significant stock holdings in oil, the last thing I would want would be to flood the market with oil. I believe that the current administration is thumbing their noses at the American people and will continue to do so until we, the people (remember that phrase?) put aside our differences and make it clear to our ELECTED representives that their nonsense will no longer be tolerated.

Bravo to the Senate on passing this bill to stop filling the SPR - it's a small step to start sending the message to OPEC that we will no longer be held hostage by $100+ barrel oil.

Next, Congress needs to pass a bill to start releasing 1 million/barrels a day from the SPF AND open up drilling in ANWR and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), requiring US oil companies to make it their top drilling priority. Experts say it will take 10 years to get the first drops of oil from ANWR -- hogwash.

That's an outdated time frame. It can be done within 1 year if it is the highest drilling priority.

US oil companies have "free time" on their hands right now to drill as they were not given the big oil contracts in Iraq as they had hoped when we invaded Iraq.

The SPR has over 700M barrels, which would give us right at 2 years to get ANWR drilling up to the 1M barrels/day that experts say it would provide.
Then, we can use ANWR to refill the SPR.

Meanwhile, in return for opening up ANWR and OCS, make a legal binding agreement with Big Oil requiring that they produce at least 1M/barrels a day from the oil tar sands (no matter what the cost - they can use their profits from ANWR and OCS) in the U.S. and Canada to replace the 1M/barrels/day taking off the market when ANWR 1M/barrels/day refill the SPR.

Granted, this is overly simplistic, but the point is Congress must open ALL domestic oil production options to our US oil companies to prove to OPEC that America's economy will not tolerate $100+ oil.

I consider myself a Democrat (will likely vote for Obama) and rarely agree with Bush on anything, but I agree with him that the time for domestic drilling is now.

The fact that all 3 presidential candidates oppose drilling in ANWR and OCS has added $10, $20, possibly $30 or more to the price of a barrel of oil.
OPEC knows that the candidates have preached energy independence in campaigning but their voting records and stance on ANWR and
OCS tell a different story.

That Trillion dollars spent on a senseless 'war' in Iraq could have been far better spent developing alternative forms of energy, such as the hydrogen car, wind & solar power....and developing the infrastructure to deliver these alternate forms of energy. But I guess there are too many politicians getting kickbacks from petroleum & electrical companies to pursue this.

One can only hope that President Obama has the political will to do with alternate forms of energy that JFK did with space flight, and Roosevelt did with the Manhattan project....devote all the resources of the government to make these goals become reality.

How stupid does Bush think were are? "the president "will not veto legislation based on the SPR provision, which is what he was signaling today."" Yeah, well with a vote of 97-1 in favor he coudn't veto the darn thing and make it stick anyways!

The Bush "family" and his cronnies have gotten rich in the last 7 years; filling the SPR at $120 a barrel was making someone happy. Guess who?

Yo, fix the dollar and the rest will follow.
Fix, as in a fixed standard, say gold. Abolish the Federal Reserve.
Stop the dollar from being a debt instrument created out of thin air, and get our country back on track. Use our Constitution before we lose it altogether.

Teddy Kennedy the fat poster boy of the Dems killed a clean wind energy project because it would destroy the view from his ( I rarely show up for work because I,m at my summer home seaside Manison.) which is on a island a is powered by an old ineffecient power plant that burns OIL. Keep reelecting these dinosours who olny think about themselves and we will some just be a failed country in the History Books. Kick out all incumbents from both parties.

I looked through here, and there is one thing I did not see ANYWHERE. This is the white elephant in the room painted black, yet nobody seems to acknowledge it.

That is POPULATION CONTROL! People need to stop having kids just to keep up with the Joneses. Every time a child is brought into this world, there is less space and resources available for everyone. There is simply too many people alive today.