First, Bush is pumping oil into the Strategic Reserve. Saving it. In effect buying it from someone:

Why? (Keep it off the market and prices are driven up.)

Who? (You can bet it's not Heinz! The SR has been used forever for cronys.)

The Strategic Reserve is for emergencies. In case you hadn't noticed, the Middle East is a bit unsettled lately.

Much of the oil comes from oil companies who pay royalties for drilling in Federal sites in oil instead of cash. Sorry the facts don't fit your Evil Bush Oil Conspiracy hallucinations.

For those interested, the site has a lot more information.

Tapping it to win an election is not a good idea.

...Couldn't ANWR be a form of "strategic reserve". Plenty of time until the others reach a critical level to develop it. And generate revenue from the oil being stored. As well has have it on an open market. (Hint - GWB is not afraid of high gas prices.)

It will take years to bring ANWR up to speed, which is why we should have started years ago. The entire point of a strategic reserve is quick access to large amounts of oil. If you want ANWR to serve this function, start drilling now, and it may be able to in ten or fifteen years.

Oh, yeah. Increasing the price of gas would be the very, very best way to lead this country to sanity in it's vehicles. If it has to be taxed to do that, it would be a good idea. Will never "fly", but it's the only responsible thing to do.

Again, notice the odd liberal quirk that a consumer's financial burden caused by a tax "doesn't count." I have heard many leftists howling about gas prices who are ready to instantly pop a dollar-a-gallon tax on gasoline to serve their anti-automobile agenda. Obviously, concern for the consumer's pocketbook runs a distant second to prying wealth away from the private sector and into the public treasury, or forcing people into public transit.