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President George W. Bush was set Monday to flesh out a plan to slash US “addiction” to foreign oil by cutting gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next 10 years, the White House said.

“The president will make an announcement about his directing the administration to take action to implement his ‘20 in 10′ plan to reduce the nation’s addiction to oil,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

“He will announce his latest efforts to ensure that the nation is taking aggressive steps to reduce gasoline consumption,” he told reporters.

The announcement due at 1725 GMT will flesh out administrative and regulatory steps to achieving a reduction in oil consumption, while urging Congress to pass legislation to help meet the target, Snow said.

Bush set out the goal in his State of the Union speech in January, seeking to slash US oil imports from the restive Middle East by three-quarters with a view to boosting the security of the world’s top energy-consuming nation.

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Bush signed an executive order directing federal agencies to craft regulations that will “cut gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.” He ordered the agencies - the departments of Transportation, Agriculture and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency - to have the rules in place by the end of 2008.

The announcement came as gasoline prices hit a new record. The average national price of a gallon of gas reached $3.07 on Monday, above the previous peak of $3.06 set soon after Hurricane Katrina hit at the end of August 2005.

“When it comes to energy and the environment, the American people expect common sense and they expect action,” the president said in a Rose Garden appearance before reporters. “We’re taking action by taking the first steps toward rules that will make our economy stronger, our environment cleaner and our nation more secure for generations to come.”
 
What those rules would look like was anything but clear.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said the president’s position opposing mandatory emissions caps has not changed. While recognizing that greenhouse gases are a serious contributor to climate change, Bush has said that anything other than a voluntary approach would unduly harm the nation’s economy.

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U.S. retail gasoline prices hit a record high for the second week in a row and matched the inflation-adjusted peak reached in the early 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war, the government said on Monday, as concern about low motor fuel supplies pushed up pump costs.

The average price for regular unleaded gasoline soared 11.5 cents over the last week to a fresh record of $3.22 a gallon, according to the federal Energy Information Administration’s nationwide survey of 800 service stations.

The much larger Lundberg industry survey of 7,000 stations showed the national price of gasoline jumped 11.4 cents over the last two weeks to a record $3.18 a gallon.

The latest EIA pump price also equals the all-time high fuel cost of $3.22 a gallon, when adjusted for inflation, reached in March 1981 after war erupted between Iran and Iraq.

Guy Caruso, who heads the EIA, said on Monday that consumers should not see gasoline prices begin falling until next month.

“We are expecting that things should improve in June,” he said. “We still have some more of the wholesale (gasoline) prices to pass through (to the pump). We’re not at the peak yet.”

Gasoline prices have skyrocketed $1.05 a gallon since the beginning of February and are up 33 cents from a year ago.

With several large refineries down this spring for maintenance or shut by problems, gasoline production has been reduced, cutting into available supplies.

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