Messenger-Post on Kuhl’s gas
The Messenger-Post has an article debunking Randy Kuhl’s claims that he could lower the price of gas by two bucks a gallon by allowing more drilling:
U.S. Rep. Randy Kuhl has a plan he claims will lower gasoline prices by $1.98 per gallon. Democrat Eric Massa, who wants to unseat him in the November election, charges Kuhl’s plan is flawed and offers one of his own.
Meanwhile, three economists put in their two cents — one of whom laughed when the Messenger sought comment on figures politicians are using.
[....]
Kuhl said he came up with his figures by taking a statement House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California made May 13 when she cited that if the government suspends filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until December, Americans would save between 5 cents and 24 cents a gallon. Using her lowest calculation of a 5-cent savings, Kuhl said his staff calculated how much would be saved based on there being 10.4 billion barrels of oil in ANWR, which could produce 1 million barrels a day.
According to three experts, two from the University of Rochester and one from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the calculations miss the mark because they don’t look at the big picture. In fact, Mark Bils, a University of Rochester professor of economics, laughed when he heard the calculations. Pelosi made an absurd statement and Kuhl ran with it to come up with an equally absurd conclusion, he said. After you suspend filling the strategic reserve, it has only a temporary effect on supply and demand, he said, and “it’s world demand and world supply that matters.”
The whole article’s worth a read. It’s the kind of solid reporting we see more and more of at the Messenger-Post, and almost never at the D&C.
(h/t F29th)
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