News from the Oklahoma Corporation
Commission
Phone: (405)
521-4180, FAX: (405) 522-1623, m.skinner@occmail.occ.state.ok.us
Bryndan Wright – Texas
Railroad Commission 512-463-7145 bryndan.wright@rrc.state.tx.us
April
10, 2002
“IT’S HIGH NOON,” SAY
COMMISSION CHAIRMEN OF OKLAHOMA, TEXAS
Denise Bode and Michael
Williams urge the Senate to break Iraq’s hold on the U.S.
Saying the day of reckoning can no longer be
delayed, Oklahoma Corporation Commission Chairman Denise Bode and Texas
Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams are calling on the U.S. Senate to
move swiftly in passing the energy bill. The Commissions regulate oil and gas
production in their respective states.
“Iraq’s announcement this week of an oil embargo and
the rising price at the pump should be more than enough to convince the Senate
of the need to act,” said Chairman Bode.
“However, the picture is growing even more grim with Venezuela’s labor
strife and its impact on that country’s flow of oil and gasoline to the U.S.
After all, we are even more dependent on Venezuela than we are on Iraq.
Together, those two nations account for over 25 percent of America’s imported
crude supply.”
“There can be no doubt that we must have an energy
policy that will encourage oil and gas production here at home,” added Chairman
Williams. “The only thing standing in the way of long lines at the pump and
prices beyond what most Americans can imagine is the domestic producer, many of
whom are small businessmen who cannot continue to weather the drastic ups and
downs of today’s energy market without a coherent government policy.”
Both Bode and Williams call the energy issue a
matter of national security.
“We are currently using about 968 thousand barrels a
day of Iraqi oil, thus supporting a regime that
the present Administration has labeled part of ‘an Axis of evil’,” said Bode.
"We were getting only 40 percent of our oil supply from OPEC when the 1973
Arab oil embargo almost brought us to our knees. Now we are 60 percent
dependent, and the situation is far more serious than even that number would
indicate. We are increasingly dependent on such nations as Venezuela for our
gasoline supply as well. Citgo is one of the largest gasoline refiners and
marketers in America. It is owned by the government-controlled Venezuelan oil
company.
“Meanwhile,
domestic production continues to decline. Last year we had 1200 rigs working
nationally. Now it’s 738. When are we going to say enough is enough?”
-occ-
All OCC news releases and
advisories are available on the web at www.occ.state.ok.us