Issues Energy Gas Prices
As Americans continue to face high gas
prices, Congress needs to prevent gas price gouging and advance
long-term solutions to high fuel costs, including diversifying
our fuel sources.
I have long supported legislation to protect consumers from
getting gouged at the pump by oil and gas companies. In May
2007, I cosponsored the Petroleum Consumer Price Gouging Protection
Act to outlaw price gouging during national emergencies and
impose tough criminal penalties on violators. I was pleased
to see these provisions included in the Senate energy bill
passed in June 2007.
Congress must also prevent the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) from manipulating the oil market. This is
why I am a cosponsor of the No Oil Producing and Exporting
Cartels Act. This bill would authorize the Justice Department
and the Federal Trade Commission to sue foreign countries
under U.S. antitrust law for fixing the price of oil.
In the long run, the solution to high gas prices is to reduce
our country’s demand for oil. The Senate energy bill moves
our country in this direction by improving energy efficiency
and increasing the use of renewable fuels. This bill raises
national energy efficiency standards for lighting, appliances,
and government buildings, and raises the amount of the country’s
fuel that must come from renewable sources from 8.5 billion
gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons in 2022.
View a letter several of my fellow Senators and I sent to our Senate colleagues urging cosponsorship of the Oil and Gas Traders Oversight Act of 2007, which would increase federal oversight of our energy markets in order to prevent price manipulation, a known contributor to the rise in oil and natural gas prices.
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