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Schaffer, Udall Spar Over High Gas Prices

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Jun 16, 2008 6:03 pm US/Mountain

Schaffer, Udall Spar Over High Gas Prices

By Steven K. Paulson, AP Writer
Reporting
Terry Jessup
DENVER (AP) ― Two Colorado congressmen are working on a plan to provide some relief from record-high gas prices.

Right now the average price for a gallon of gas is just under $4, according to AAA Colorado. A barrel of oil is now at just over $134. Some analysts say it could go over $150 despite word from Saudi Arabia that the Saudis will soon pump more crude.

Frustrated consumers have been calling their lawmakers and politicians everywhere are feeling increased pressure to do something. Monday, two Colorado Democrats running for re-election, Mark Udall and Ed Perlmutter, said they are working on relief.

"When you're addicted to something, as the president has announced we're addicted to oil and gas, and we can't drill our way out of the situation, you've got to work for alternatives. These are the alternatives here today, we want to invest in those," Udall said, referring to biodiesel fuel. The two congressmen were pumping up the option of less expensive biodiesel fuel offered at a Hill petroleum station in Arvada.

"Biodiesel really does pack pretty much the same punch as regular diesel," Perlmutter said.

With primarily eight countries and only five companies controlling the oil market, the lawmakers say they also support a bill to reign in oil traders trying to manipulate the market.

Station owner Troy Hill says the speculators are a big part of the problem.

"Ten years ago, three cents-a-gallon overnight change was a huge change," Hill said. "Now we're seeing three changes a day. Two weeks ago there was a .30 cent swing on diesel and a .20 cent swing on gas in one night."

The congressmen are also calling for the building of more oil refineries, claiming that's an even bigger issue than supply.

"They themselves will tell you that refining is the bottleneck right now," Udall said.

The last oil refinery built in the U.S. was in 1974. Oil demand since then has gone up 15 percent.

As for why isn't there more domestic drilling to ease the foreign supply problem, a biodiesel customer said politicians can spin it anyway they want, but to him it's the Democrats and environmentalists fault.

"I could care less about the animals. They're going to survive. I might not, but they will," biodiesel customer Jim Lidinsky said. "There's a lot of empty space in this country. I'm sure they could find someplace where it wouldn't bother anybody."

The national average for retail gas prices rose to a record $4.08 a gallon. That is even as Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, said over the weekend it would boost oil output by 200,000 barrels a day, about 2 percent from June to July.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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