Give George W. Bush an E for effort for his Monday meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah during which he urged the Saudis to help restrain crude oil prices. With prices so high, we were encouraged to see the president take the initiative.
There’s more he can do if he wants to have an impact on oil prices – he should push for energy conservation measures that he has so far resisted.
Bush reported after talking to the Saudi leader, “A high oil price will damage markets, and he knows that.” Such homilies aside, the meeting produced no immediate response from the Saudis beyond reiterating their already announced plan to increase production capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day by 2009 from the current 11 million limit. The desert kingdom now pumps about 9.5 million barrels daily.
When asked if pump prices, now averaging more than $2.20 a gallon, would drop as a result of Monday’s meeting, Bush said that would depend on supply and demand. “One thing is for certain: The price of crude is driving the price of gasoline. The price of crude is up because not only is our economy growing, but economies such as India and China’s … are growing,” he said.
That is indeed the long-term problem and precisely why the president should move strongly to encourage energy conservation measures. With just 5 percent of the world’s population, the U.S. accounts for 26 percent of the world’s energy consumption. As living standards rise in other nations, the U.S. can’t expect to continue claiming such a huge share of world energy output. Think of the Chinese all driving SUVs and it becomes apparent that more energy-efficient lifestyles need to be developed.
Yet, the energy bill recently passed by the U.S. House emphasized incentives for more domestic production rather than conservation. Some of those steps are good, but it’s foolish to think that long-term “energy independence” can be reached by simply draining our existing oil reserves at an ever-faster rate.
That’s why the Senate should expand the House bill by bringing sport utility vehicles under the same fuel economy standards that now govern cars. Phasing in a fuel economy standard of 35 miles per gallon could save the U.S. 440 million barrels of oil annually over a decade. Colorado is already a leader in alternative energy sources such as wind energy, development of which should be redoubled.
Jawboning the Saudis is fine as far as it goes. But only a vigorous program of alternative energy sources and conservation can hope to stem the rising tide of higher fuel prices at the pump.
