U.S. Senator Susan Collins is applauding the announcement today by the U.S. Department of Energy that the department will not seek contracts for the purpose of delivering oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in 2008, thereby bringing to a temporary halt the filling of the SPR, which is already more than 97 percent full. Senator Collins, along with Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) has led the efforts in the U.S. Senate to suspend oil shipments for the SPR while oil prices remain at an all-time high. The Senators’ related provision was approved last week by the Senate and is part of Senator Collins’ 10 point Energy Plan.
Senator Collins said, “Today’s announcement by the Department of Energy is good news and common sense given the high price of energy and the struggle that Americans are facing in paying their fuel bills. Continuing to fill the SPR when oil prices are so high defies common sense. By filling the SPR, the federal government is taking oil off the market and thus driving up prices.
“This is a positive step that the Department of Energy can take to help address, in the short run, the exorbitant cost of energy.”
The SPR is an emergency stockpile and an essential safeguard against major disruptions in global oil markets. However, the SPR already contains nearly 700 million barrels of oil—97 percent of its current storage capacity.
Senator Collins worked with Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) on a bipartisan provision that was successfully included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that requires the Department of Energy to procedures for obtaining oil for the SPR, with particular regard to the effect that acquiring oil for the SPR would have on oil prices and supplies.
In January, Senators Collins, Levin, Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT), and Norm Coleman (R-MN), wrote to the Secretary of the Department of Energy urging him to temporarily suspend filling the SPR.
In addition to suspending acquisition for the SPR, Senator Collins has also proposed regulating energy future markets and repealing tax breaks for major oil companies in order to immediately address the high cost of energy. In the long-term, Senator Collins recently proposed a 10-Point Plan to achieve energy independence by the year 2020.