Protesters call for lower gas prices outside Kind’s office

Friday, March 28, 2008

From an article by Joe Orso in the La Crosse Tribune:

Frustration over high gasoline prices that show no sign of coming down led protesters to line up with signs Monday outside U.S. Rep. Ron Kind’s office in downtown La Crosse.

Consumption of petroleum products during the four weeks ending March 14 fell 3.2 percent compared with the same period in 2007, Energy Information Administration statistics show.
So if Americans are conserving fuel, the protesters asked, why do prices at the pumps remain high?

And will it keep going up?

“We’re told on the news, ‘Get used to high oil prices,’” said John Hemmersbach, 47, a dairy farmer in Cashton, Wis. “Why? Why should we pay more for fuel?”

About 20 protesters — including farmers, a truck driver, a hair stylist, a car salesman and children — held signs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. outside Kind’s office at 205 Fifth Ave. S., calling for lower gas prices. A steady stream of vehicles drove by, some honking in support.

“Tell Kind it’s cutting into my beer money,” a driver shouted from a delivery truck.

Kind was holding a listening session in St. Croix County on Monday, said Anne Lupardus, Kind’s communications director. She said the cost of fuel has been a top priority for him.

“He understands people are frustrated by the high prices of gas,” Lupardus said. “He himself is frustrated by it. Every American is frustrated by it.”

In January, she said, Kind began calling on the Bush administration to temporarily halt purchasing crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The emergency stockpile of oil, created in 1975, is 95 percent full, she said, and yet 70,000 gallons of oil continue to be added to it every day. Halting purchases could save consumers 25 cents per gallon at the pumps, she said.

She also noted Kind supported passage of the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008 and the Energy Independence and Security Act.

But despite government efforts, consumers still feel crunched by high gas prices.

Paul Dwyer, whose milk-transporting business has five trucks on the road, said last month’s fuel bill was $34,000. Two years ago, with two trucks on the road, his monthly fuel bills were about $5,000, he said.

“I just want to know why diesel is 80 cents more than gas,” Dwyer said.