Coloradans blame market speculation and oil companies for high gas prices, and the vast majority say the best way to bring prices down is to crackdown on market manipulation, according to a poll released Tuesday.
As Democrats such as Colorado Sen. Mark Udall blame speculation in the financial markets for skyrocketing gas prices, Republicans – including U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton of Colorado – continue to target Obama administration policies. This time Tipton is fingering the Federal Reserve.
Several Democratic senators, including Mark Udall, are staging a media stakeout at the U.S. Capitol today to voice their concerns over the role of complicated finance speculation in high gas prices.
Even as a non-partisan report was released showing that cutting tax breaks for oil companies would probably not result in higher pump prices for American drivers, the United States Senate voted Tuesday to continue letting oil companies avoid taxes.
Opponents of ending tax breaks for big oil companies argue that closing tax loopholes will result in higher prices at the pump, but a report from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service finds that ending the tax breaks is unlikely to cause a rise in prices.
Observers of the century-long quest to extract oil from the shale rocks of Colorado’s Western Slope are fond of saying “oil shale is the fuel of the future … and always will be.” Never commercially viable because of the costs and resources needed to heat and extract the kerogen trapped in the rocks, an estimated 2 trillion barrels of shale oil remains locked up – perhaps forever.
A group planning to protest the rising price of fuel Monday with a parade through downtown Denver was foiled when its organizer couldn’t find transportation from New Jersey to the Mile-High city.
Gasoline prices may seem high in Colorado, but the state’s drivers spend only about 3.43 percent of their income on gas, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, making us only the 42nd “most vulnerable” to oil dependence.
And…
Congratulations, Colorado, you did it! According to the Automobile Association of America’s fuel gauge report, gasoline is now more expensive in Colorado than it has ever been in America, even adjusting for inflation.
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