Reid will reveal gas plan

Benjamin Grove and Nick Christensen

Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005 | 7:39 a.m.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid today plans to stand atop a downtown Las Vegas parking garage with views of freeway traffic as he goads President Bush to do something about gasoline prices.

Reid will unveil some specific proposals, including short-term and long-term plans, that could bring down prices at the pumps, aides said. Included will be proposals to better regulate the oil market and prevent price manipulation, as well as specific tax proposals, Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said.

Reid also is expected to address increasing oil refinery capability, an issue that House lawmakers tackled last week. The result was a raucous 212-210 vote Friday on a refinery-related bill. Not a single Democrat supported it, and some chanted "Shame!" on the House floor.

Reid is expected to outline actions he believes Bush should take to curb gasoline prices.

Hafen declined to provide details until today's 11:30 a.m. press conference atop the Main Street Station's parking garage.

Congress is out of session this week, and most lawmakers are using the time to connect with voters. Reid counseled fellow Senate Democrats to hold events in their districts to draw attention to gasoline prices.

The price of gasoline is a hot political issue in Washington because it is on the minds of voters. But the problem does not lend itself to easy answers, and neither political party appears to have been able to co-opt the issue so far.

Gasoline prices prompted Bush last week to announce the administration's first campaign aimed at conservation. Bush also supported the oil refinery bill approved by the House.

Reid and other Democrats called the Bush conservation effort "toothless." Reid has long been a proponent of renewable energy development, including solar, wind and geothermal energy. Democrats have urged Bush to pursue goals of requiring the federal government to reduce oil consumption by 40 percent by 2020, in part by relying on vehicle-efficiency technology and alternative fuels.

Reid's proposal comes as gasoline supplies are becoming more available after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Rick Karp, a senior policy analyst at the American Petroleum Institute, said Tuesday that "as the supply situation in the gulf and refining sector continues to improve, we would expect to see the overall supply-and-demand balance in the country improve as we get more supplies to the consumers.

"In the short term, it's going to be market forces that move that along, not government policies," Karp said.

In other words, the less gasoline used, the lower the price.

Peter Krueger, executive of the Nevada Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said that while national prices have been high because of low refining capacity, transportation is the key issue for Southern Nevada.

The pipeline that carries fuel to Las Vegas from Southern California is nearing capacity, especially in the wake of tougher federal standards regulating acceptable pressure levels in pipelines.

"We're open to anything that's going to increase supply," Krueger said. "There's plenty of crude oil out there. There's no way to properly refine or transport it. That goes right to the heart of the problem, that old pipeline and its lack of capacity."

He said that construction of another pipeline would be more economically feasible than supplementing the pipeline by trucking more fuel in. In the meantime, Krueger said, private entities are working to add more tanks to store more gasoline in the valley.

Benjamin Grove can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at grove@ lasvegassun.com.