President Bush signed the new energy bill into law today while simultaneously, the price of oil went up to a new record level of $64 per barrel.
The new energy bill does nothing to relieve prices for consumers or lower America's dependency on foreign oil but does give massive tax breaks to energy companies that are already making record profits.
'This bill is not going to solve our energy challenges overnight,' Bush said just before signing the bill into law in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 'It's going to take years of focused efforts to alleviate those problems.'
Even the bills staunchest supporters admit the bill will not help consumers for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, environmental groups are not pleased by the new legislation. Martha Marks of Santa Fe, N.M., president of the National Republicans for Environmental Protection, said the 10-year-old grass-roots organization was disappointed in the final version passed by Congress.
'It really gives a short shrift to conservation and it still continues to subsidize the well-established oil and gas industries that really don't need subsidizing especially when (crude) oil is $60 a barrel,' she told the Associated Press.
The president, meanwhile, tried to remain upbeat.
'This economy is moving, and what this energy bill does is that it recognizes that we need more affordable and reliability sources of energy,' Bush insisted. 'This bill launches an energy strategy for the 21st century and I've really been looking forward to signing it.'
Meanwhile, as the president was signing the new energy bill, the price of oil on all international oil markets continued to set new record highs, nearing $64 per barrel. Fears of a terrorist threat in Saudi Arabia and the increasing regional instability caused by the war in Iraq continued to keep prices at record highs.
The average cost of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in the United States is at $2.34, up 46 cents from a year ago.
It seems that there will be little improvement in the near future.
