WASHINGTON — With consumers fuming over the high cost of gasoline, Republicans and Democrats each want to prove they alone offer the path to lower pump prices.
Republicans argue that drilling in coastal waters, Alaska and the Rocky Mountain West will boost oil supplies. Democrats counter that alternative-energy development will free consumers from fossil-fuel captivity.
The problem, energy analysts say, is that neither solution will cut prices right now. Even over the long term, only a marriage of the two approaches will work.
And neither party will agree to a wedding in an election year with the Oval Office at stake.
“The parties have a lot of incentive not to solve the problem and blame the other side,” said Julian Zelizer, political-science professor at Princeton University and author of several books on Congress. “Unhappy voters are the voters people think can be swayed.”
In the last month, Democratic Reps. Mark Udall of Eldorado Springs and Ed Perlmutter of Golden and Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave of Fort Morgan have held news conferences at gas stations.
Lawmakers know they must offer fixes, with pollsters for both sides saying voters list fuel costs as a top concern. There are no clear-cut solutions, however.
High gas prices have started to prompt less driving, but they’re still too low to force rapid change. Oil would need to hit $150 to $200 a barrel and stay there before private investment moves heavily into alternative fuels and transportation, said John Kilduff, energy analyst at MF Global in New York.
Repealing Environmental Protection Agency limits on the sulfur content in diesel fuel would increase fuel supplies, said Philip Verleger, an Aspen-based energy economist. But that’s politically difficult.
Voters want anything that might work.
In a Zogby International poll this month asking what government actions people favored to lower fuel costs, 60 percent backed encouraging domestic drilling. Almost as many, 59 percent, supported cutting demand by boosting fuel-efficiency standards, and 54 percent endorsed the use of alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.
The survey did not ask people to pick one option over another. Political advisers are coaching Republicans to talk about more drilling and renewable energy. Democratic strategists suggest giving solutions that include cracking down on oil speculators and pushing gas alternatives. They also advise blaming President Bush.
Playing both ends against middle
Presidential candidates are aiming for pleasing the political middle, analysts said.
“There is a choice that is before folks,” said Hari Sevugan, a spokesman in Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. “Do we want leadership that’s been tied to the folks making money from (high gas prices), or do we want leadership that’s fighting for us on this?”
Features of Obama’s energy plan include taxing oil companies’ windfall profits and putting the proceeds into programs that help people deal with high energy costs; increasing fuel-economy standards; spending $150 billion over 10 years on clean energy; and spending federal money on mass-transit projects.
Doug Holtz-Eakin, senior economic-policy adviser for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, painted McCain’s approach as a shift as well, saying that under McCain’s leadership, “America will change course” on energy.
While he called for new drilling, McCain also wants to add 100 nuclear plants. He also backs permanent tax credits for wind, solar and hydro power.
McCain puts limits on his support for alternative fuels, however. In May, he joined 23 GOP senators who asked environmental regulators to waive a new federal law requiring a five-fold increase in ethanol production by 2022.
The wedge between Republicans and Democrats hardened last week as McCain — and subsequently Bush — called for new drilling.
Senate Republicans for the second time this year blocked a Democratic effort to extend expiring tax incentives for renewable-energy producers. The measure also included the removal of favorable tax treatment for oil companies.
Such tax changes “don’t lead to production,” said Sen. Wayne Allard, a Republican from Loveland. “They lead to less availability and energy.”
Democrats condemned the calls for drilling.
“President Bush and John McCain are not serious about addressing gas prices,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. “If they were, they would stop offering the same old ideas meant to pad the pockets of Big Oil.”
The political standoff means costly oil will continue to push up the price of everything, from airline tickets to food to plastics, energy analysts said.
“Of course, more drilling, more refined product production is part of the solution,” energy analyst Kilduff said. But “to just attack this from the drilling side and not require a transition of our transportation fleet and the like from these fossil fuels ultimately is unworkable.”
Anne C. Mulkern: 202-662-8907 or amulkern@denverpost.com
