Pres. Obama's Control Over Gas Prices & Domestic Oil Production: CNN's Fareed Zakaria (Videos)

Gas prices up for 9th straight day


The national average price for a gallon of gasoline rose for the ninth straight day on Sunday to $3.838. That is now only about 6.7% below the record high of $4.11 from July 2008.

The average price rose by three-tenths of a penny, according to the survey of gas stations conducted for the motorist group AAA. Gas prices are now up more than 17% this year.

The nationwide average was $3.52 a gallon a month ago and $3.76 a gallon on March 9 -- the day that prices started rising again after a few days of slight declines.

Gasoline averages more than $4 a gallon in seven states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, New York and Washington. Gas prices are also above $4 a gallon in the District of Columbia, according to AAA. At nearly $4.48 a gallon, Hawaii ranks as the nation's high.

Prices are less than a dime away from $4 a gallon in Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Wisconsin.

Check prices in your state

Wyoming has the nation's lowest gas prices, averaging slightly above $3.40 a gallon.

Gas prices have been rising on the back of soaring oil prices, which have shot up more than 5% over the past month amid fears that tensions with Iran will lead to an all-out war that causes a disruption in oil supplies.

Signs of an improving economy have also boosted oil prices, as has the stock market, which hit multi-year highs this week.

The spike in gas prices has led to speculation that the U.S. and Britain may release strategic oil reserves over the next few months in order to boost supplies and lower crude prices. The White House denied a Reuters report about this Thursday.

Pain at the pump has become a hot political issue during the presidential campaign.

According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, more people disapprove of how President Obama is handling the economy than a month ago. That's despite improvement in the job market this year.

Why gas prices won't influence the election

Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich has pledged to get prices down to $2.50 a gallon.

Meanwhile, Rick Santorum has blamed the president for blocking the expansion of domestic energy production. Santorum has also argued that high gas prices were to blame for the 2008 housing meltdown and ensuing economic slump.

And Republican front-runner Mitt Romney said recently that Obama "should be hanging his head" over his energy policies and also accused the president of slowing domestic production.

Romney has advocated opening federal lands to drilling and easing regulations on fracking, a controversial policy that involves pumping water into rocks to harvest gas.


Sources: CNN, Fox News, GPS, Youtube

Romney Says "Fire Energy Secretary Steven Chu!" Gas Prices & Keystone XL Pipeline Revenge

Romney calls for firing top energy officials


Mitt Romney called Sunday for three of President Barack Obama's top energy or environment officials to resign or be fired for contributing to rising gas prices through what the Republican presidential hopeful labeled failed energy policies.

Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Romney labeled Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson the "gas hike trio" and said it was "time for them to go."

The former Massachusetts governor made a similar call at a campaign event Saturday in Illinois, the next major primary in the Republican presidential race to decide who will run against Obama in November.

According to Romney, Obama and the three top officials want higher energy prices in order to increase the viability of solar, wind and other alternative energy sources.
On Sunday, the AAA reported that the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline rose to $3.84 for an increase of almost 17% so far this year, according to www.fuelgaugereport.com.



Obama contends that oil prices are set by a global market and there is little that any administration can do in the short term to prevent price spikes like what is occurring now.

The president advocates a broad energy policy that invests in clean energy alternatives while continuing oil, gas and nuclear development. However, Republicans including Romney and the other presidential contenders call for accelerated drilling and development of U.S. oil and natural gas reserves.

In the Fox interview, Romney also claimed that Obama rejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada's tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast at the same time the government was giving $500 million to Solyndra, the failed solar panel manufacturer.
However, Romney's assertion misstated the timing of those events.

The Solyndra loan originated in 2009, Obama's first year in office, while the State Department rejected a permit for the Keystone pipeline earlier this year.

The permit was turned down after congressional Republicans forced a decision as planners continued seeking an alternate route through Nebraska requested by state officials.

TransCanada, the company developing the pipeline, has said it will reapply for approval of an alternate route, and in the meantime will construct one segment of the project from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast that doesn't require State Department approval.


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Sources: ABC News, Bloomberg.com, CNN, Fox News, Youtube, Google Maps

Obama Calls BP "Reckless", Vows They Will Pay (Speech Video)

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Obama Accuses BP Of "Recklessness"


Dedicating new urgency to the Gulf oil spill, President Barack Obama accused BP of "recklessness" in the first Oval Office address of his presidency Tuesday night and swore not to rest until the company has paid for the damage it has caused to lives, businesses and shorelines.

He announced that he had asked former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus to develop a long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan — to be funded by BP PLC — in concert with local states, communities, fishermen, conservationists and residents "as soon as possible."

Obama did not detail what this plan should include or how much it might cost, a price sure to be in the billions of dollars.

'We will make BP pay'

Whatever the bottom line, he declared to his prime-time television audience, "We will make BP pay."

Still, eight weeks into the crisis, oil continues to gush from the broken wellhead, millions of gallons a day, and Obama has been powerless to stem the leak. The sad episode has raised doubts about his leadership and his administration's response to what Obama has called the nation's worst environmental disaster.

The speech comes as a new poll shows a majority of Americans disapprove of how he has handled the Gulf disaster, though far more blame BP for what people call a sluggish two-month response.

A government panel of scientists said earlier Tuesday that the undersea well is leaking even more oil than previously thought, as much as 2.52 million gallons a day — or enough to fill the Oval Office more than 22 times. The total spilled so far could be as much as 116 million gallons.

BP has had only modest success so far in stemming the flood of oil, but Obama said that within weeks "these efforts should capture up to 90 percent of the oil leaking out of the well." Later in the summer, he said, the company should finish drilling a relief well to stop the leak completely.

Much of the president's speech was devoted to a recitation of steps his administration has already taken — "from the very beginning," he said — to clean the oil, help the distraught people of the Gulf and prevent another environmental crisis.

"We will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long it takes," Obama said.

Likened to long epidemic

Likening that process to a long epidemic instead of a single crushing disaster like an earthquake or hurricane, he said the nation could be tied up with the oil and its aftermath for months "and even years."

Looking ahead to his showdown Wednesday morning with BP executives, Obama said he would "inform" them that the company must set aside whatever resources are required to make whole all local residents and businesses hurt by the spill and to repair the immense ecological damage wrought by the oil.

That meeting was to be followed by a presidential statement — his fourth planned remarks on the spill in three days. Later in the week, BP leaders take the Washington hot seat again, appearing before more congressional hearings.

However, Obama said that the new Gulf restoration plan would go beyond just repairing the effects of the crude on a unique, teeming ecology that was already battered by the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"We must make a commitment to the Gulf Coast that goes beyond responding to the crisis of the moment," the president said.

Obama also urged the nation and Congress to get behind his goal of passing sweeping energy and climate change legislation, a key domestic priority of his presidency that had become a long shot. Though Obama supports placing a price on heat-trapping carbon emissions, he did not directly state that.

"The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now," he said. "I say we can't afford not to change how we produce and use energy - because the long-term costs to our economy, our national security, and our environment are far greater."

Oil executives grilled

On Capitol Hill, executives from other major oil companies turned on BP and defended their own drilling practices during a congressional hearing as they sought to stave off new government regulations in the wake of the spill.

Obama began the day in Pensacola, Fla., where he inspected the famous white sand beaches and met with local officials before heading back to the White House to deliver the first televised Oval Office message of his presidency.

The president walked along Pensacola Beach with Gov. Charlie Crist and Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. People were swimming in the emerald green water. But oil is nearby even if it can't be seen, according to Allen.

Onlookers chanted "Save our beach, save our beach."

Earlier Tuesday, the White House announced former Justice Department inspector general Michael Bromwich as Obama choice's for the new head of the Minerals Management Service, the agency that regulates the oil industry. Bromwich replaces Liz Birnbaum, who resigned in May in the fallout over the government's response to the spill.

BP said a small fire believed caused by lightning briefly shut down a system capturing oil from the gushing well on Tuesday. The fire on the drilling ship Discoverer Enterprise was quickly extinguished, the company said, and the oil capture operation resumed.

BP also announced it is accelerating the payments of commercial large-loss claims to get money into the hands of businesses more quickly. BP executive Bob Fryar said the company has thus far paid about $70 million in claims — the vast majority paid to individuals, especially those working in fishing and tourism. Fryar said the average time from claim to check is four days for individuals and about seven days for commercial entities.

Oil in the hot seat

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Oil executives testifying before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on energy and the environment Tuesday defended their own drilling practices.

Exxon Mobil Chairman Rex Tillerson told the panel it is crucial to find out what caused the offshore rig to explode in April, killing 11 workers and creating the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

"This incident represents a dramatic departure from the industry norm in deepwater drilling," Tillerson said.

Shell Oil Co President Marvin Odum testified, "We remain confident in our drilling expertise and procedures, built on a foundation of multiple required safety


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Pres. Obama Fixates On Sobering Job Loss Report With Future Optimism...Green Jobs, Clean Energy

Whitehouse.gov----


President Obama: I just held a meeting with the CEOs of some of the most innovative Energy companies in America, to talk about growth and progress of a sector that represents a big piece of America's future.

As our Economy adapts to the challenges of a new century, new ways of producing and saving and distributing Energy offer a unique opportunity to create millions of jobs for the American people.

The jobs figures report released this morning was sobering. It shows we lost 467,000 just last month.

It took years for us to get into this mess and it will take us more than a few months to turn it around.

However I'm confident that we're not only to recover from this Recession in the short term but were also going to prosper in the long time.

To do that we have to act now to build a new foundation for lasting growth and Energy is one of the pillars for lasting growth.

Many Small Businesses are exporting their goods and services but unfortunately their biggest markets are Europe and Japan because we haven't done enough to emphasize Clean Energy in our own country.

We're going to have to shoot for the future and not look backwards.

To make the argument that we should just lock in on the status quo or perpetuate the same policies that got us into this mess in the first place, doesn't make any sense.

Americans are not folks who are afraid of the future or look backwards.

We always meet the challenge by moving forward and that's what I think is going to happen this time as well.




President Obama Meets With Energy Executives

Meeting with energy entrepreneurs Thursday afternoon, President Barack Obama urged his guests to speak up on behalf of the American Clean Energy and Security bill that passed the House of Representatives last Friday.

"He asked all of us to get out and make sure this gets through the Senate," Alex Laskey, president of the Virginia-based company Positive Energy, told POLITICO. "He felt like there's a real need for all of us who are interested in this…to tell our stories, to talk to people and lawmakers about how efficiency and renewable energy is good for the economy and good for American business and good for jobs."

Seven energy executives met with Obama on Thursday, along with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

Laskey, whose firm works with utility companies to help Americans monitor and reduce their household energy use, expressed excitement at the opportunity to work with a sympathetic president.

"To have a president who is as committed as he is to changing the way we produce and use energy in this country will have terrific implications for us," he said. "He seemed genuinely interested in what government was doing right and what government was not doing enough of, to encourage, facilitate new businesses and existing businesses to thrive in this market."

In the case of his firm, Laskey estimates that Positive Energy will reduce Americans' energy consumption by $25 million this year, and argued that nationally "there's the opportunity to save people four to five billion dollars on their energy bills." The exposure from Obama just might make their job a little easier.

"I don't expect anything," Laskey said, adding: "I'm hopeful that the utilities with which we work and the utilities with which we're speaking will take note of the president's interest."

Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Politico, Youtube