August 9, 2006

Governor says President Bush's energy policies have failed citizens

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today called on President Bush to take swift action to bring relief to the pocketbooks of American consumers by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and to order federal agencies to crack down on oil companies failing to perform required pipeline maintenance.  Granholm said the action would benefit the economy by stabilizing gasoline markets. 
 
“Two years after you assured Americans that a federal energy bill would help lower gas prices, oil companies are making record profits while consumers are emptying their wallets at the pump,” Granholm wrote in a letter to the White House.  “Even worse, despite oil companies’ rhetoric that they are reinvesting profits to improve supply, we now know that at least one company has put off critical pipeline maintenance, leaving our economy even more dependent on unstable foreign governments.”

One year after urging the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the president’s energy policies have failed to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and have failed to relieve consumers from record high gas prices. 

Granholm has taken several actions to protect consumers from rising gas prices in addition to calling on the President to cap oil profits in September 2005 and again in her 2006 State of the State message.  Over the past three years, Granholm has:

• increased gas pump inspections and called for legislation to require gas station operators prove their pumps have been calibrated and are working properly when they apply for renewal of their operator’s license – state law requires that licenses are renewed annually;

• sent a letter to the federal Commodities Futures Trading Commission requesting they conduct an inquiry into all contributing factors in price spikes, including any role speculators have played in driving the inflation-adjusted price of oil and gasoline toward historic high levels;

• signed executive orders temporarily suspending state laws restricting the supply of gasoline and increasing the diesel fuel supply and called on Marathon Oil Corporation to reduce the price of gas for Michigan customers, an action that resulted in an immediate drop in the price of gas by the company – steps taken in the wake of Hurricane Katrina;

• directed the Michigan Department of Agriculture to conduct routine surveys of gasoline prices and directed the department to refer information about potential unfair pricing practices to prosecutors for possible legal action – a step that led to the felony conviction of a Macomb County service station caught defrauding customers;

• supported legislation to add a legal cause of action to the Michigan Consumer Protection Act that would expressly ban the practice of price gouging during states of emergency declared by the governor.

“The president cannot continue to sit idly by while consumers feel increasing pain at the pump,” Granholm said.  “The president cannot continue to favor big oil and other special interests at the expense of the American people.”