WASHINGTON – Yesterday, in an evening vote, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted to accept an amendment offered by Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) to suspend deliveries of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) until oil falls below $40 per barrel for 2 consecutive weeks on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

“According to the Department of Energy, a gallon of gas costs, on average, is 43.7 cents more right now than it did a year ago,” said Stupak. “It just doesn’t make sense to keep filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve when oil and gas prices are sky-high. The Reserve is already filled to 98 percent capacity with 688 million barrels- the highest it’s ever been and would not hurt our energy security in the least.”

Oil closed Monday at $53.71 a barrel, when only one year ago the price was $34.38. The suspension of oil delivery to the SPR would put additional barrels of oil out into the market to stabilize the world’s oil supply and provide some relief at the pump for consumers.

 “There is no quick, easy fix when it comes to this problem. But, until the President sticks to his promise to jaw-bone OPEC to bring down the price of oil coming in from abroad, we should be able to divert domestic barrels to increase oil supply and help ease the crunch on the middle class being felt at the pump,” Stupak said.   

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