Just received a Wall Street Journal news update:

“President Bush said he plans to temporarily halt deposits to the strategic
petroleum reserve in an effort to relieve pressure on gas-pump prices, which are edging toward $3 a gallon nationwide. Bush also set steps to ease environmental standards governing fuel grades.”

Unfortunately the strategic reserves have little to do with the actual reason gas prices are skyrocketing. The best that thing this halfhearted symbol will do is to console the average driver that our governement is doing something to ease pocketbook pangs at the pump. Commodity markets may take this into account and slow the elevating prices, but only slightly. It also seems a little questionable to stump on alternative energies and the environment for the last couple of months and then ease environmental standards. Our gas prices will keep going up over the summer due to consumption, but hopefully we are nearing the end (in the midwest anyways) of the springcleaning/mtbe-to-ethanol switch that has been a factor in the prices.