U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2008)

The White House

For Immediate Release
May 5, 2008

Press Briefing by Scott Stanzel

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

12:39 P.M. EDT

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Q: Oil is hitting $120 a barrel today -- a new record. Any response on that? And any further steps that the administration can take?

MR. STANZEL: Well, I think it's another example that it's important for the United States to become less dependent on foreign sources of energy. I understand some strife in Nigeria may be playing an impact on that. We have here in this nation resources that we are not utilizing. ANWR is an example, an issue that's been debated over the past couple of decades -- has been repeatedly blocked from exploration. If we had not blocked it, if we had moved forward with it in 1995, when it was rejected then, we might be getting a million barrels of oil out of that area in an environmentally friendly way. And that would make a big difference, when you stop and think that the United States is importing about 12 million barrels of oil per day.

So we have to do more on the domestic exploration front. We also have to do more in terms of building refineries. We haven't built refineries in about 30 years. We also have to do more in terms of weaning ourselves off of that foreign oil by expanding the use of alternative sources of fuel -- not only corn-based ethanol, but other types of ethanol that we're investing heavily in -- cellulosic ethanol as well as hydrogen battery -- or battery technology, hydrogen fuel cell technology.

There are a lot of different ways that we can reduce our dependence, but we have more to do. And it's just -- also I would point out that obviously the demand for oil is growing around the world. Many developing nations like India or China are having greatly increased demand, which obviously is having an impact on price.

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1:01 P.M. EDT