The Poynter Institute Menu Donate State Editions * California * Florida * Iowa * Michigan * New Hampshire * New York * North Carolina * Pennsylvania * Texas * West Virginia * Wisconsin Issues * All Issues * Online hoaxes * Coronavirus * Health Care * Immigration * Extremism * Taxes * Marijuana * Environment * Crime * Guns * Foreign Policy * LGBTQ+ People * Joe Biden * Kamala Harris * Donald Trump * Mitch McConnell * Hakeem Jeffries * Ron DeSantis Media * PunditFact * Tucker Carlson * Sean Hannity * Rachel Maddow * Bloggers * PolitiFact Videos Campaigns * 2024 Elections Truth-o-Meter * True * Mostly True * Half True * Mostly False * False * Pants on Fire Promises * Biden Promise Tracker * Trump-O-Meter * Obameter * Latest Promises About Us * Our Process * Our Staff * En Español * Who pays for PolitiFact? * Advertise with Us * Suggest a Fact-check * Corrections and Updates * Newsletters Donate #### Follow us The Facts Newsletter Sign up English Español ### Stand up for the facts! Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info ### I would like to contribute One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now ![](\\" ![](\\" Newt Gingrich stated on March 11, 2012 in an appearance on \"Fox News Sunday\": Obama\'s secretary of energy, Dr. Steven Chu, \"has said publicly he wants us to pay European levels (for gasoline), and that would be $9 or $10 a gallon.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" mostly-true/4ac7c61540eff5211f6a04d98a6bc93a.jpg.\\") ![\\"mostly- true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") * National * Gas Prices * Newt Gingrich ![\\"Molly](\\" By Molly Moorhead March 14, 2012 # Gingrich said energy secretary advocated raising gas prices Newt Gingrich, who has promised gasoline at $2.50 a gallon if he’s elected president, frequently blames the Obama administration for rising prices at the pump. He recently called President Barack Obama’s energy plan \"outrageously anti-American.\" And in an interview on Fox News Sunday on March 11, 2012, Gingrich said Obama is leading the nation toward \"greater dependency and much more expensive gasoline, maybe ultimately as high as $9 or $10 a gallon, which is what his secretary of energy, Dr. Chu, says he wants it to be. \"He has said publicly he wants us to pay European levels, and that would be $9 or $10 a gallon.\" That sounds like it could ruin a lot of road trips. We decided to check that claim about Steven Chu, and while we’re at it -- are Europeans really paying that much to fuel their Fiats? What Chu said Chu is a a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who served as director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a federal energy research center. His quote about European gas prices has become somewhat notorious since he uttered it almost four years ago. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in late 2008 -- before Obama was elected and at a point when Chu had no ties to Obama -- Chu told the newspaper that he favored raising gasoline taxes gradually over 15 years to coax consumers into buying fuel-efficient cars and discouraging sprawl. \"Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,\" Chu said in an interview with the Journal in September 2008. The quote did not appear in print until December, when the Journal ran a story after news emerged that Chu was being tapped as energy secretary. It has been a target of criticism numerous times since then. \"The popularity of Chu’s now-infamous quotation tends to track the rise and fall of gas prices: It enjoyed a huge surge of attention last spring and summer (2011) before largely vanishing from view in the fall, leading up to this month’s renaissance,\" reporter Bob King wrote in a story in POLITICO. As it happens, after Gingrich\'s comment, Chu backed away from what he said. At a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on March 13, 2012, Chu said, \"Since I walked in the door as secretary of Energy I’ve been doing everything in my powers to do what we can to … reduce those prices.\" Chu added, according to POLITICO, that the \"most important tool in DOE’s tool chest is moving off oil.\" \"So are you saying you no longer share the view that we need to figure out how to boost gasoline prices in America?\" Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked him. \"I no longer share that view,\" Chu said. \"When I became secretary of Energy, I represented the U.S. government,\" Chu added. \"Of course we don’t want the price of gasoline to go up, we want it to go down.\" Getting back to Gingrich’s portrayal of Chu’s 2008 remark -- that he \"has said publicly he wants us to pay European levels\" -- Chu’s statement was indeed public. He said it to a newspaper. And he did express a desire to raise domestic gas prices closer to those in Europe. About that $10 gas Gingrich pegged the cost of a gallon of gasoline in Europe at between $9 and $10. We contacted the European Union, which provided this chart showing gasoline prices in various countries as of March 5, 2012. The chart (on page 2 of the document) shows prices in Euros per liter. We converted that into dollars per gallon and came up with these figures: France: $7.07 per gallon Portugal: $7.24 per gallon #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on September 11, 2024 in an Instagram post \"Debate moderators made the false claim to Donald Trump that there is nowhere in the United States where abortion is legal up until birth.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Jeff Cercone • September 13, 2024 Italy came in highest at $8.48 per gallon. We also received information from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. According to the chart on page 3 of this document, which shows prices in January 2012, a gallon of gasoline cost $7.54 per gallon in France, $8.07 in Germany and $6.68 in the United Kingdom. The travel website mytravelcost.com reports even higher prices. The site, which says it updates prices monthly, puts a liter of unleaded in France at 1.64 euros. Converted to dollars per gallon, that’s $8.10 per gallon. In Spain, it’s $7.06 per gallon, and in the Netherlands it’s $8.90, according to the website. Our ruling Gingrich said that Chu, the energy secretary, \"has said publicly he wants us to pay European levels [for gasoline] and that would be $9 or $10 a gallon.\" Chu’s statement, made to the the Wall Street Journal in 2008, was \"somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.\" Gingrich’s paraphrase was accurate. As for the price, he aimed a little high. We found examples of gasoline near $9 a gallon in Europe, but none approaching $10. Gasoline prices fluctuate, however, and so does the exchange rate between dollars and euros. But, because of the discrepancy, we rate his statement Mostly True. This story originally provided an incorrect date for the Fox News Sunday program on which Gingrich appeared. It has been corrected to say March 11, 2012. #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Wall Street Journal, \"Times Tough for Energy Overhaul,\" Dec. 12, 2008 Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, March 11, 2012 POLITICO, \"Steven Chu\'s Europe gas quote haunts President Obama,\" Feb. 21, 2012 Bloomberg, \"Record Gasoline Grips Europe While California Faces $4 a Gallon,\" March 4, 2012 POLITICO, \"Gas prices: Steven Chu walks back Europe gas prices quote,\" March 13, 2012 Associated Press, \"Gingrich: Obama has \'anti-American\' energy policy,\" Feb. 21, 2012 International Energy Agency, \"End-use petroleum product prices and average crude oil import costs, January 2012\" European Commission Energy Policy, March 5, 2012 Mytravelcost.com, accessed March 13, 2012 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Molly Moorhead ![](\\" ![](\\" National Republican Congressional Committee stated on February 12, 2014 in a television ad: Obamacare includes a \"$700 billion cut from Medicare for seniors.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Steve Contorno • February 14, 2014 ![](\\" ![](\\" Mitch McConnell stated on May 19, 2013 in an interview on \"Meet the Press\": Says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told insurance companies \"they couldn\'t inform their policyholders of what they thought the impact of Obamacare would be on them.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • May 28, 2013 ![](\\" ![](\\" Reclaim America PAC stated on May 14, 2013 in a TV ad: Says Kelly Ayotte voted to \"fix background checks.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • May 15, 2013 ![](\\" ![](\\" Charlie Crist stated on May 8, 2013 in a Facebook post: On support for gay marriage ![\\"full-flop\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"full-flop\\"](\\" flop.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • May 9, 2013 ![](\\" ![](\\" Marco Rubio stated on April 30, 2013 in a Fox News interview: \"We are dealing with an administration that, quite frankly, has shown a reluctance to enforce the immigration law.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • May 7, 2013 ![](\\" ![](\\" Eric Cantor stated on April 23, 2013 in a tweet: \"Why is President Obama unnecessarily delaying your flight? FAA could cut other spending.\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • April 26, 2013 ![](\\" nra/cadaeabc7d8e66b7530e55c518111910.jpg\\") ![](\\" nra/a3a7db0e2bb4cff22ed2962a83e89486.jpg\\") National Rifle Association stated on April 17, 2013 in a statement: The Manchin-Toomey amendment \"would have criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring lifelong friends, neighbors and some family members\" to get government approval. ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • April 18, 2013 ![](\\" ![](\\" Marco Rubio stated on April 14, 2013 in an interview on \"Fox News Sunday\": The immigration proposal from the Gang of Eight \"is not amnesty.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • April 17, 2013 ![](\\" ![](\\" Dannel Malloy stated on April 3, 2013 in an interview on MSNBC: Air travelers \"can’t get on a plane in the United States without someone doing a background check\" on them. ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • April 9, 2013 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on March 29, 2013 in a Facebook post: A new law \"requires the USDA to approve the harvest and sale of crops from genetically modified seed even if a court has ruled against the crop as being dangerous to public safety or the environment.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • April 5, 2013 ![](\\" ![](\\" Jim Jordan stated on March 19, 2013 in a congressional hearing: The national debt is \"larger than our entire annual economy.\" ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Sabrina Eaton • March 28, 2013 ![](\\" ![](\\" Michael Bloomberg stated on March 24, 2013 in an appearance on \'Meet the Press\': \"If you go back to 1999, Wayne LaPierre testified on behalf of the NRA that background checks were appropriate and should be done.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Molly Moorhead • March 26, 2013 ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on March 20, 2013 in tweets: While the sequester is in effect, the federal government is still funding a study on duck penises. ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"mostly-true\\"](\\" mostly-true.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • March 22, 2013 ![](\\" sarahpalin/27e01b51694c1716a6aa753d88c9b7c0.jpg\\") ![](\\" sarahpalin/92e924c2584b781d90ce67781192c5c9.jpg\\") Sarah Palin stated on March 16, 2013 in a speech at CPAC: \"Seven of the 10 highest-income counties in the country ring the city\" of Washington D.C. ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Molly Moorhead • March 20, 2013 ![](\\" ![](\\" Paul Ryan stated on March 15, 2013 in a speech at CPAC: \"Our debt is already bigger than our economy.\" ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Molly Moorhead • March 15, 2013 ### Gingrich said energy secretary advocated raising gas prices * ![](\\" ![](\\" House Majority PAC stated on September 9, 2024 in a television ad: Laurie Buckhout is “trying to get to Congress to pass a national abortion ban, allowing politicians to ban abortions with no exceptions and prosecute women if they get an abortion, treating women right here like criminals.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Paul Specht • October 1, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump Jr. stated on September 9, 2024 in a post: “Less than three months ago, Kamala Harris and her administration blocked 300,000 unvetted Haitian migrants from being deported out of our country.\" ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" X posts stated on September 30, 2024 in an X post: Photo shows President Joe Biden lounging on the beach \"while towns all over America were being wiped out” by Hurricane Helene. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Samantha Putterman • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on September 30, 2024 in in social media posts: “Biden Announces: ‘2.4 billion more to Ukraine’ but ‘no more aid for Hurricane Helene.’” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Jeff Cercone • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 24, 2024 in a post: “Olympic boxer Imane Khelif fails gender test, stripped of all titles, lifetime ban and $25 million prize money revoked!” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Grace Abels • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on September 30, 2024 in a press conference in Georgia: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was calling President Joe Biden after Hurricane Helene but \"hasn\'t been able to get him.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Caleb McCullough • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on September 29, 2024 in an Instagram post: “Video shows Kamala (Harris) responding to someone talking through her earrings that she allegedly wore during the Trump vs. Harris debate.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Ciara O\'Rourke • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Elissa Slotkin stated on September 30, 2024 in a Meta ad: U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers “believes he should make that decision” about whether to end pregnancies. ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Caleb McCullough • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Tim Sheehy stated on September 27, 2024 in an ad: U.S. Sen. Jon Tester “voted to give taxpayer-funded health care to illegal immigrants.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Louis Jacobson • September 30, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 26, 2024 in an Instagram post: “Kamala involved in P-Diddy’s rapes and assaults.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Sofia Ahmed • September 30, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. Become a member! In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts. Sign me up #### Offices District of Columbia 1800 I Street NW Washington, DC 20006 Florida 801 3rd St. S St. Petersburg, FL 33701 727-821-9494 #### People * Joe Biden * Kamala Harris * Donald Trump * Mitch McConnell * Hakeem Jeffries * Ron DeSantis #### State Editions * California * Florida * Iowa * Michigan * New Hampshire * New York * North Carolina * Pennsylvania * Texas * West Virginia * Wisconsin #### About Us * Our Process * Our Staff * En Español * Who pays for PolitiFact? * Advertise with Us * Corrections and Updates * Newsletters #### RSS Feeds * Recent Articles and Fact-checks * Recent Fact-checks Suggest a Fact-check #### Follow us The Facts Newsletter Sign up Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Copyright ©All Rights Reserved Poynter Institute 2020, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization ![\\"\\"](\\" ✕ * * *
Obama's secretary of energy Dr Steven Chu has said publicly he wants us to pay European levels for gasoline and that would be 9 or 10 a gallon