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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 27, 2006
President Discusses Refining Capacity in Biloxi, Mississippi
BP Gas Station
Biloxi, Mississippi
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In Focus: Energy
In Focus: Hurricane Recovery
3:33 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Listen, we've got people like this that are working for a living, who are paying higher prices for their gasoline -- it's like a tax. And I talked the other day about things we can do. The first thing is to make sure that nobody is getting cheated. One of the roles of the federal government is to make sure that you're taken care of.
We need more refining capacity. One of the reasons why you've got high prices is the demand is greater than supply. And when demand is greater than supply, the price goes up. They've got in Pascagoula a really fine refinery. I remember coming over with the governor, the place was shut down -- they got it up and running, and we hope we can put law in place that will encourage them to expand refining capacity. We've got a problem because we're dependent on oil from overseas. And oil is the main reason -- the price of oil is the main thing that drives the cost of gasoline.
One of the things we've got to do is make these trucks run on ethanol and batteries that won't require gasoline. That's what the future is going to be.
Congress is debating some other ideas. And one idea is to give me a capacity to raise CAFE standards on automobiles. I encourage them to give me that authority. It's authority that I use for light trucks. And I intend to use it wisely if Congress would give me that authority.
Again, I want to thank you for letting me come by and say hello. It seems like everybody is getting better down here. Thank you.
END 3:35 P.M. CDT
