Kerry in Northwest to tout energy plan

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 · Last updated 8:14 a.m. PT

Kerry in Northwest to tout energy plan

By NEDRA PICKLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Tuesday that soaring energy prices are "putting our economy at risk" as he opened a two-day swing in the Pacific Northwest where gas prices are among the highest in the nation.

"When gas prices hit $2 a gallon, we don't just pay for it at the pump - we pay for it in our towns and our schools and our grocery stores," Kerry said in remarks prepared for delivery.

Kerry flew to Portland, Ore., where he was to visit a depot for school buses that run on gasoline and diesel to highlight the impact energy prices are having on schools, consumers and others.

"Soaring energy prices are putting our economy at risk, but it doesn't have to be this way. We can live in an America that is energy independent," Kerry said.

The weighted national average for all three grades of gasoline was $2.10 per gallon on Friday, an increase of 14 cents in two weeks, according to the biweekly Lundberg Survey of 8,000 gas stations nationwide.

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If that is the result then let them rise. I was for a larger fuel tax on just that basis. It is the Freeper approach. Let the Market dictate where are energies are to be spent. I'm very much for Alternative Energy and away from Oil and foreign markets. All things come with a price.

they doubled! In '77, Jimmy Carter initiated a search for alternative (gas) fuels....trying to make fuel from fermented corn. Soon, everyone I knew in rural Ohio either had or was planning on how to make a still in their kitchen! In '81, after Reagan was in office, he put an end to this search and made sure that fossil fuels was the only viable alternative. The 'market' is shaped by those in power.