Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he backs President Bush’s call today (Tuesday) for renewed investigations into possible gasoline price gouging. Grassley says consumers deserve the truth and they’re getting increasingly frustrated with bounding gas prices, which have surpassed four-dollars a gallon on both coasts.
Grassley says “We in government need to put all the pressure we can on oil companies to make sure the F-T-C and the Department of Justice, who’s investigating, to make sure that there’s not any collusion in prices. We need to make sure that the speculators are following rigid government regulation and controlling speculation.” Grassley says American motorists may soon have to resort to a mindset like the one that got us through World War Two, with more strict fuel consumption guidelines. He says he’s encouraged to see President Bush taking up issues he’s long been pushing.
Grassley says reports find if people find a way to drive three-percent fewer miles, it would help to reduce demand and drop prices. President Bush is also calling for energy companies to reinvest profits into boosting refining capacity, developing new technologies and researching alternative energy sources.
Tennessee Senator Bill Frist told Radio Iowa in a Monday interview, ethanol is to blame for the high gasoline prices. Grassley responded to that. Grassley says “I don’t think (Frist) is really blaming ethanol, he’s saying there’s just not enough ethanol right now and going from MTBE to ethanol is a problem as long as there’s a shortage of ethanol.” Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is applauding another announcement expected today (Tuesday) from Chrysler to widen its line of vehicles that can run on E-85, a fuel mixture of 85-percent corn-based ethanol and 15-percent gas.