Contact:
Matt Dempsey Matt_Dempsey@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-9797
Katie Brown Katie_Brown@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-2160
Sec. Chu refuses to retract statement that the goal is to boost price of gas to levels in Europe
Washington, D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said that Energy Secretary Steven Chu's testimony today before the House Science Committee reveals that he remains thoroughly committed to his comment in 2008 that somehow "we have to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." When Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) asked Secretary Chu at the hearing today if he would retract his 2008 statement he refused. This comes just days after Congressman Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss) asked Secretary Chu if it was the Administration's goal to bring down gas prices. His answer was "no" and he went on to say, "The overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil; to build and strengthen our economy and decrease our dependency on oil."
Obama Energy Sec. Chu Grilled by Sensenbrenner Over Gas Price Comments
"Energy Secretary Steven Chu's refusal to retract his statement in 2008 that their goal is to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe, goes to show that, contrary to President Obama's phony reelection rhetoric, he and his green team remain just as committed to their aggressive, ongoing war on affordable energy," Senator Inhofe said. "Of course, Secretary Chu must have been feeling the pressure from President Obama's reelection team to walk back what he said in 2008, yet he still refused to retract his statement that they want $8 to $9 dollar-a-gallon gas because that is the only way they can force Americans into their dream of a costly green economy.
"We've seen this before. Remember in a rare moment of clarity, President Obama also said that under his plan of a cap-and-trade system, energy prices would 'necessarily skyrocket.' But now that the global warming hoax has completely collapsed and he's scrambling to save his job amid the very skyrocketing gas prices he wanted so badly, he's pretending to be for an all-of-the above approach.
"There is nothing all-of-the-above about it. Listen carefully to what Secretary Chu said - he said the overall goal is to "decrease our dependency on oil" - not foreign oil. And that's just it: the Obama administration's ambition is to eliminate oil, natural gas, and coal - the most affordable resources we have. President Obama certainly isn't giving up: under his watch gas prices have nearly doubled and what is his response? Again today he called for raising oil and gas taxes, of course failing to mention that these extra costs will just be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices at the pump. He continues to say that drilling is futile using the same false rhetoric that we only have '2 percent of the world's oil', while ignoring the non-partisan Congressional Research Service which has revealed that America has the largest endowment of oil, gas and coal in the world. Developing these resources and approving projects like the Keystone XL pipeline would do more than anything to bring down gas prices and decrease our dependence on the Middle East. But President Obama and his green team are determined to keep our wealth of resources in the ground.
"Secretary Chu told us the truth in 2008 and today he refused to retract that truth. So if you think gas prices are bad now, fasten your seatbelts: if Obama is reelected there will be nothing standing in his way - and his war on affordable energy will be unleashed with a vengeance. It's time to end this nonsense and finally develop the vast resources that literally lay at our feet. Doing so is the best way to revive this economy, and bring down prices at the pump."
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