Soaring Gas Prices & Treaty Review
Soaring Gas Prices & Treaty Review
I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.
We are a nation that depends on gasoline. Industries such as agriculture depend on it to fuel the machines that help farmers and ranchers supply us with the food we eat. Earlier this week Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington State drove home the need for better oversight of gasoline markets and refineries during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing.
CANTWELL: High gas prices on the West Coast and supply and demand issues is something I have spent a lot of time on, and here we are again with prices approaching $4 per gallon in Washington State. When it gets to that point it starts to eat into our economic growth. Washington state prices are among some of the highest in the nation. A new report by McCullough Research confirms that, something we suspected all along, that during the past year West Coast gasoline prices have ceased to follow the crude oil price.
Cantwell stressed the need for more transparency in the market, as a seemingly minor problem that only briefly interrupted operations at Exxon Mobile’s Torrence, CA refinery last year led to an almost instantaneous increase in wholesale prices - bumping them 50 cents in less than a week.
CANTWELL: We’re not following supply and demand here. My constituents very much want to see more transparency there. Hamburger probably has more regulation on it than gasoline.
The Columbia River treaty between the U.S. and Canada has a tremendous impact on rivers and fish in the Northwest. After 50 years it's being re-examined. Stakeholders and the public can learn and discuss the CRT Working Draft Recommendation during a informational webinar July 23 from 3 to 5 pm. The Treaty Review team will provide an overview of the Working Draft document and its development, and will answer questions to build understanding of the Working Draft. For more information visit crt2014-2024review.gov.
I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network.
