From: Ron Gillen (gillen@nconnect.net)
Date: Mon May 21 2001 - 07:47:58 PDT
Cheney: Gas should be cheaper next month May 20, 2001 Posted: 5:02 PM EDT (2102 GMT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Gasoline prices should start falling next month, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday. Cheney, who was chiefly responsible for building the energy reform plan advanced by President George W. Bush last week, was the only administration official making such a bold prediction Sunday. As the heads of the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency made the rounds of Sunday news-talk programs, neither predicted lower prices in the near future. However, a national survey finds gasoline prices increased less than a penny over the past two weeks, nearly halting a steady rise in gas prices since March. The Lundberg Survey samples prices at 8,000 stations twice a month. Previous surveys had found prices jumping nearly 8 cents and nearly 31 cents during earlier two- week periods. Cheney, a former oil industry executive, said he has been watching the futures market. "If you look at the futures prices with respect to gasoline, they appear to be headed down," the vice president said on CBS' Face the Nation. "So I think the expectation is that sometime, hopefully not too long after Memorial Day, we'll begin to see those inventories reflected in prices at the pump and the pressure will ease. It's what normally happens." Pushing energy package Having given American drivers hope of a short-term break in rising prices, Cheney got in step with other administration aides and pressed for approval of the Bush energy package. "As long as we do things or pursue policies that don't increase the supply, then what we'll find on the other end is inadequate supply and spiking prices," Cheney said. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham was more dire in his view of energy prices if the Bush plan is not approved by Congress. "Instead of waiting until the shortages get so acute that prices go through the ceiling and people across America confront blackouts and other shortage-inspired problems, let's start on it now with the president's comprehensive plan and we can avoid those difficulties," Abraham said on CNN's Late Edition. He said many parts of the plan can be implemented immediately by executive order, but he did not spell out what those might be. Environmental issues Democrats say the Bush plan favors energy companies at the expense of consumers. But Abraham, a former senator from Michigan who last year tried to abolish the 18-cent-per-gallon federal gasoline tax, said energy companies have to be encouraged to boost supply quickly. "We have had a flat level in terms of supply increases over the last 10 years. That can't continue or the kinds of shortages we see in California and other places will be true across the country," he said. The short-term approaches in California --although defended by the Bush administration and sought by California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat -- are harming the environment, the federal government's environmental chief said Sunday. "The environment is already paying a price, unfortunately," Christie Whitman, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said on Late Edition. "As you look at the problems we have in California, we are having to allow some of those utilities to put online their emergency generators, which are fossil-fuel combustion. And those are dirtier. In the end we will pick up and make the environment whole, we will get back some money, we will get back some emissions. But right now, it's not healthy," said the former New Jersey governor. "We are seeing real environmental impacts today from a lack of a national energy policy," she said. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: timewitnesses-unsubscribe@egroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/