HEARING BRINGS GAS PRICE HEARTACHE TO CONGRESS

SELECT COMMITTEE: HEARING BRINGS GAS PRICE HEARTACHE TO CONGRESS

AS PRICES BREAK RECORDS, PERSONAL STORIES FROM BUSINESSPEOPLE, FARMERS, BUS DRIVERS REVEAL ECONOMIC TOLL OF AMERICA’S OIL DEPENDENCE

(Washington, DC) -  (May 7, 2007) – With gas prices hitting record numbers, the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will bring Americans affected by our dangerous oil dependence to Capitol Hill for a unique hearing. Chairman Edward Markey (D-MA) and the rest of the select committee will listen to the personal impact of gas prices on a single mom and small business owner from Virginia Beach, VA; an air conditioning service businessman from Metairie, LA; the head of a school bus service company in Youngstown, OH; and a farmer from McPherson, KS. The four will tell the committee how rising gas prices have affected their bottom line and their industry.

Gas prices hit a record $3.07/gallon nationwide average last week, the 13th straight week in which prices have risen. Prices have climbed 20 cents in the past two weeks and by nearly a dollar since the first of the year. The previous record was $3.03 per gallon on August 11, 2006.

At the time of OPEC’s oil embargo, three decades ago, America imported 30 percent of its oil from foreign sources. That figure has doubled, as currently America imports 60 percent of its oil from foreign sources.

WHAT: “Economics of Dependence on Foreign Oil – Rising Gasoline Prices”

Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA)
Opening Statement
Hearing, “Economics of Dependence on Foreign Oil - Rising Gasoline Prices”
Select Committee on Energy Independence and Climate Change
May 9, 2007, 2:00 PM, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building

WITNESS TESTIMONY:

Sylvia Estes, Pipeline and Industrial Group, Virginia Beach, VA

Michael Mitternight, Factory Service Agency, Metairie, LA

Terry Thomas, President and CEO, Community Bus Services Inc., Youngstown, OH

Donn Teske, Farmer and President, Kansas Farmers Union, McPherson, KS

John Felmy, Chief Economist, American Petroleum Institute

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