As surely as spring follows winter, demands that the United States tap its Strategic Petroleum Reserve follow a rapid run-up in the cost of gasoline. The current rise in prices - admittedly painful to consumers and a weight on a still-frail economy - follows the pattern. With prices at the pump averaging nearly $3.50 here and above $4 elsewhere, demands from politicians, business leaders and others that President Barack Obama tap the reserve to ease the pain are on the increase. That shouldn't influence the president. He should spurn the demands.
Releasing some of the reserve likely would increase supplies and prompt a reduction in price. Lower prices, though, would be short-lived since long-term releases from the strategic reserve are not practical. The reserve was created to help sustain the United States in true crisis - say an almost complete interruption in the flow of crude from overseas - and siphoning off any more than a token amount now would put the country at risk in the future. That's a risk Obama should avoid at all costs.
Indeed, many experts - those who view the current situation without political blinders - generally agree that the current rise in prices is due as much to speculators buying up oil now to sell at high prices later as it is to uncertainties in oil-producing nations like Libya. Still, the petroleum reserve is a popular target, especially of politicians who want to appease constituents battered by high prices.
Truth is, the nation would be better served by adopting a long-term approach to the issue. Rather than take a short-cut to artificially lower prices, national leaders should find ways to reduce the demand for gasoline and other fossil-based fuels. That's not a new philosophy.
Prescient leaders have said for decades now that the only way for the United States to resolve its energy problems is to reduce reliance on petroleum-based products, to build more fuel efficient vehicles, to conserve energy and to wholeheartedly embrace clean, alternative sources of energy. That's still sound advice, but it is a message that many politicians don't want to hear.
Most clearly prefer expediency over the far more difficult task of changing the nation's wasteful habits. They'd rather release oil from the reserve than to tell the hard truth - that things will become far worse if serious efforts to conserve energy and to develop alternative sources of energy are not fast-tracked now. Some brave souls do advocate such steps, but their voices are lost in tumult about the reserve.
The president should look beyond the yapping and reject calls to tap the strategic reserve. He should reiterate and promote the necessity of better planning now to met the nation's future energy needs. Doing so in a highly public way would be a real display of leadership.