Bachmann: $2 a gallon gas?

Rep. Michele Bachmann was in Woodbury on Monday to tout her support for the "No More Excuses Energy Act," a bill that would open up more publicly owned lands to oil and gas extraction and provide tax breaks to the nuclear energy industry. Bachmann announced her plan and said it could get gas prices down to $2 a gallon, but Minnesota Public Radio’s Bob Collins wonders how Bachmann gets to $2 when even top oil consultants can’t get it right.

"We don’t have a famine of energy, we have a wealth of energy. Congress has just made it illegal to access this wonderful resource," Bachmann said. "That’s what the No More Excuses Energy Act does — opens up and gives access to the energy so we can bring the prices down. But to do that we have to explore here, and explore now, so that Minnesotans can pay less."

"One has to be careful in predicting the price of gasoline," wrote Collins. "Just ask Nathan Schaffer, a manager of the group that tracks gasoline refining and marketing for PFC Energy, a consulting firm in Washington. About 18 months ago he figured if a barrel dropped below $50 a barrel, gas prices would drop to below $2. That prediction didn’t work out so well."

Bachmann’s press conference in Woodbury also touted a regular family from her district, Diane and Gary Baran, who are concerned about the rising price of gas. The Barans have also been longtime GOP activists and regular supporters of Bachmann.

"No one else believes this is possible,” Elwyn Tinklenberg, Bachmann’s DFL challenger this fall, told the Pioneer Press. "It amazes me. If this were the solution, if it were as simple as this — more oil wells around the country — don’t you think the Bush administration, which has got to be the most oil-oriented administration we have ever had in this country, don’t you think they would have thought of that?”