Increased petrol prices cause tension in US

Blessed are the sportutility vehicles (SUVs), for they shall take Americans to the mall. For they are part of the American way of life and it is blessed.

How else can one interpret what White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said when asked if President George W. Bush would urge Americans to change their lifestyles and conserve petrol, given the sudden rise in prices at the pumps?

"That's a big no," he replied, "The President believes that it's an American way of life and that it should be the goal of policymakers to protect the way of life. The American way of life is a blessed one."

Part of the US way of life has always been cheap petrol and, with gasoline prices at record highs, people are starting to get a little mad - like the man putting petrol in his car who said sarcastically to the attendant, "I wanted to fill her up but I only had a hundred dollars".

Most Americans can remember when petrol was less than a dollar a gallon and a twenty-dollar bill was enough to fill up a medium-size saloon car. The price has suddenly risen to an average of $1.70 (#1.92) a gallon nationwide, $0.17 higher than the record set last June (but still much cheaper than in the Republic, where a gallon, or 3.785 litres, of regular unleaded costs the equivalent of $2.65), and the story is making headline news.

It could get worse. Shell and Chevron dealers in California, where regular unleaded already costs $1.95 a gallon, have been told to get ready for $3 a gallon by the summer, though the Energy Department predicts the increase will be half that.

The world price of crude oil is one reason for the steep rise. Another is the shutdown of refineries, particularly in the Midwest, which is keeping inventories low. In many cities, refineries have been switching from winter to summer blends to meet clean-air requirements, a procedure that reduces refining capacity briefly. California has few reserves of this reformulated petrol.

But the drivers see only the added expense and the political fallout is beginning to worry the White House, where the words Jimmy Carter are being whispered by worried aides.

In the 1970s, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut production and plunged the US into an oil crisis. President Carter was blamed for the long queues, the alternate-day purchasing restrictions and the high prices, and lasted only one term.

Mr Bush ran for election as someone who would act tough. In January last year, referring to high heating oil costs, he said: "What I think a president ought to do is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say, `We expect you to open your spigots"'. But the tone is different now.

"If any politician has a magic wand that they can wave over gas prices to lower them, the president would like to listen to them," said Mr Fleischer, plaintively conceding that Mr Bush is powerless in the OPEC spigot-opening sphere.

The most immediate remedy - removing the federal excise tax of 18.4 cents a gallon - is not being considered. "We couldn't get 40 votes [in Congress] for that," said energy secretary Mr Spencer Abraham. But people will see that Mr Bush "has a plan, has a vision and has a roadmap for many summers to come," said White House adviser Mr Dan Bartlett.

The road map may cut right through the last unspoiled wilderness in the US. Vice-president Mr Dick Cheney, who heads a task force on energy, wants to open up protected areas of Alaska to support US oil needs. The group's conclusions are foregone in a White House indebted to the oil industry, which dumped $22.5 million into Republican coffers during the last election.

The White House is in fact an oilman's (and oilwoman's) club. Mr Bush drilled oil in Texas for a living. Mr Cheney was chief executive of Halliburton, the world's largest oil services company. National security adviser Ms Condoleezza Rice was a director of Chevron. Commerce secretary Mr Don Evans was chief executive of Texas oil company Tom Brown. Commerce under secretary Ms Kathleen Cooper was an Exxon executive. Army secretary Mr Thomas White was vice-chairman of Enron Energy Services. Energy lobbyists such as Mr Stephen Griles and Mr Thomas Sansonetti have pivotal positions in the administration.

Mr Cheney is all for drilling in the forests. He has refused to meet environmentalists and dismisses the idea that petrol-free cars powered by hydrogen gas or electricity will be the norm anytime in the next 20 years, which ecologists argue is possible.

The trend towards petrol-free cars, or hybrids run on petrol and electricity, has already got some momentum. The Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight, which have an electric motor as the main power source with small petrol engines for high speeds, have had modest sales in the US. They cost less, pollute very little and get more than double the mileage. Among their owners are Maine governor Mr Angus King and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

But only 20,000 hybrids will be sold in the US this year and it will be 2003 before General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler complete their plans for hybrid SUVs. This compares with 17 million conventional vehicles sold last year, when the hottest items were powerful, chunky, pick-up trucks, SUVs and vans.

Mr Cheney's report is expected to embrace high-tech conservation ideas but will essentially be a charter for the oil industry to extract new fossil fuels. "The Bush administration is being disingenuous when it suggests we can drill our way to great energy independence," complained Mr Elliot Negin of the Natural Resources Defence Council, who argues that the best way to save money is by using less petrol through increased fuel efficiency.

The White House clearly prefers the philosophy of Minnesota governor Mr Jesse Ventura. "Everybody wants to protect the environment to a certain level," said the former all-in wrestler on drilling in protected areas to reduce US dependence on foreign oil. "But until they can show me something else, we're at the top of the food chain."