Congress push to stop SPR shipments gains steam
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A plan to require the U.S. government to stop filling the nation's emergency crude oil stockpile until prices drop has enough votes in the U.S. Senate to overcome a likely presidential veto, a Democratic lawmaker said on Tuesday.
Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said he has lined up the support of 68 senators -- enough to override a presidential veto -- for his plan to delay filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the end of 2008 or oil prices fall below $75 a barrel, versus current levels near $120 a barrel.
That's after 16 Republicans on Tuesday broke ranks with President George W. Bush to back a temporary halt to filling the U.S. emergency crude oil stockpile, adding to the 51 Democrats who support the move.
Dorgan says he plans to offer his plan to a bill being debated by the Senate to reauthorize funding for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, also backs a temporarily halt to sending crude oil into the SPR.
Lawmakers have turned up the heat on Bush to delay sending about 70,000 barrels per day of light, sweet crude oil into underground salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas.
Bush lost some key support from his own party after 16 Republicans -- including Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas -- sent him a letter calling for a delay in reserve shipments.
"We are in an extreme circumstance, now that oil is around $120 a barrel," Hutchison said. "I support an immediate halt in the deposits of domestic crude into the SPR as we enter the busiest driving season of the year."
Bush has rebuffed weekly calls to delay stock building, calling it an important buffer against supply disruptions like those caused by hurricanes that plowed into the Gulf Coast oil patch in 2005.
The oil in question amounts to one-tenth of 1 percent of the world's daily oil needs, which Bush said at a news conference on Tuesday is not enough to make a difference in prices.
"In this case, I have analyzed the issue, and I don't think it would affect price," Bush said.
The SPR currently holds nearly 701 million barrels of crude oil. It was created by Congress in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo.
(Editing by Christian Wiessner)
