Ask the Expert: What Can Be Done About High Gas Prices?

Q: Why are gas prices so high right now?

A: Oil prices are set on the world market. There's one global market for oil prices. So instability in the Persian Gulf that may threaten supplies or speculators driving up the price for fear of a supply disruption all effect gasoline and oil prices here, even though they might not directly effect our supply of oil.

In addition, worldwide demand for oil is up as the world's economies recover. That's particularly true with an increase in demand from China and India. So as other countries' demands go up, as there's instability in the Persian Gulf, and as speculators drive the price up, the oil price—which is set on a worldwide basis—goes up here as well.

Q: What can be done about it?

A: In the short run it's very difficult to have an impact on oil and gasoline prices. One thing that President Obama and other past presidents have done is to sell some of our reserve oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is 96 percent full. President Obama sold some Petroleum Reserve oil last year and reduced gasoline prices by 6 percent. Every other president since 1991 has sold some reserve oil, and every time it's lowered the price of oil and gasoline. That's something we should consider if prices continue to rise.

Q: What's wrong with conservatives' solutions to high gas prices?

A: Conservatives have solutions to high gas prices that would benefit Big Oil but not anyone else. "Drill, baby, drill," which would open up our Pacific and Atlantic Coasts, won't add that much more oil and it will take seven years to produce any of it.

Conservatives have made a big deal about building the Keystone pipeline that will bring tar sands from Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico. They claim that the pipeline is "shovel ready," but we haven't even agreed on where to put it through Nebraska. So not only is it not "shovel ready," it's not even "map ready." It's years away before it will be completed and it won't make any difference to gasoline prices now or the next few years.

Ultimately, reducing demand for oil through improved fuel economy standards, and investments in advanced fuels like electricity, natural gas, and advanced biofuels, will be the ultimate solution to high oil and gasoline prices.