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WORLD> America
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Obama backs some drilling, tapping US oil stockpile
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-05 10:37 Obama, who as recently as last month argued against tapping the petroleum reserve, proposed that the government sell 70 million barrels of oil from the stockpile and said past release from the reserve have lowered gas prices within two weeks. Explaining his thinking, campaign energy adviser Heather Zichal said Obama "recognizes that Americans are suffering." The reserve contains 707 million barrels in salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana. It was last tapped shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Obama said US politicians have failed for three decades to deal with the energy crisis, and that McCain has been "part of that failure." He called tapping the petroleum reserves a short-term solution to a long-term problem. "Like George Bush and Dick Cheney before him," Obama said of the Arizonan, "he sees more drilling as the answer to all of our energy problems, and like them, he's found a receptive audience in the very same oil companies that have blocked our progress for so long. In fact, he raised more than one million dollars from big oil just last month." Also Monday, Obama's campaign unveiled a television ad that criticizes McCain's energy policies. "After one president in the pocket of big oil we can't afford another," says the ad, referring to Bush's previous work in the oil industry. Both candidates have moderated their positions since earlier this year. McCain abandoned his past opposition to drilling on the Outer Continental shelf and now is an aggressive advocate of such drilling. On Friday, Obama signaled that he could support limited new offshore drilling if it were needed to enact a compromise energy policy. "We're not going to achieve energy independence by inflating our tires," McCain told employees at the National Label Co. in Lafayette Hill, Pa. Part of Obama's energy plan calls for consumers to fully inflate their tires for improved gas mileage. McCain also called on Obama to join him in calling for Congress to return from its August recess to pass a comprehensive energy policy. Spokesman Bill Burton said Obama would join the call only if McCain is willing to pass a policy that provides $1,000 energy rebates and invests in renewable energy -- two of Obama's proposals. Gas prices have risen steadily as an issue since last November, according to a recent AP-Yahoo News poll. The issue rose to second place after the economy more broadly. Obama said it was his "single overarching goal" to end US reliance on oil from the Middle East and Venezuela over the next 10 years; he put the government pricetag at $150 billion. The petroleum reserve is capable of releasing about 4 million barrels a day. It's unclear what impact such a release might have on global oil prices, or costs of gasoline at the pump. But a clear signal by the United States to use its emergency reserve to a significant extent could put downward pressure on oil markets at least for a time, energy experts say. In 2000, President Clinton used a similar "swap" of government oil as proposed by Obama, making available 30 million barrels because of concern over rising prices and supply worries in advance of that year's winter heating season. Republicans criticized the move as an attempt to help then-Vice President Al Gore's presidential bid. Obama said that, under his plan, oil companies would bid to borrow easily refinable light sweet oil from the reserve, and replace it later with heavier oil. Elgie Holstein, an Obama energy adviser, said that while fewer refineries now are capable of refining the heavier stuff into gasoline, that won't be the case in the future. |
