Washington, D.C. – Senate Energy & Natural Resources Chairman Pete V. Domenici today called on Congress to develop the U.S’s largest onshore oil reserve in the face of climbing oil and gas prices. He also reiterated his willingness to include a CAFÉ provision in the bipartisan energy bill he is crafting. The federal government yesterday announced that average gas prices could reach $2.15 this spring. Prices will likely climb even higher when the summer driving season arrives, Domenici said. The United States must act with commitment and discipline to solve its own energy problems. Chairman Domenici’s statement: President Bush has repeatedly called on Congress to pass a comprehensive energy bill that helps us produce more energy, conserve more of what we produce and moves us toward a hydrogen society. President Bush is absolutely right. Today, U.S. consumers continue to pay for our failure to act. They pay every time they pull into a gas station or open a utility bill. Instead of begging OPEC to drop its oil prices, let’s use American leadership and ingenuity to solve our own energy problems. This week, the Budget Committee will mark-up a budget resolution that will include instructions to my committee to develop ANWR. I will fight for those instructions both in committee and on the floor. I believe increased production should go in tandem with increased conservation and supply diversity. My last energy bill did a great deal for both conservation and supply diversity, but I am happy to do more. I would be delighted to include a viable CAFÉ provision in my energy bill. But let’s stop stalling and get a bill done this year. I agree with President Bush. Four years of debate is long enough.” ###