Kohl is Chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Herb Kohl introduced an amendment to the Senate Surface Transportation Bill to permit the Department of Justice to bring actions against foreign states – such as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – for collusive practices in setting the price or limiting the production of oil. Kohl's bipartisan No Oil Producing & Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) amendment would help prevent OPEC from manipulating oil production that causes fuel price spikes for American consumers. 

"Gas prices are reaching $4 and higher in parts of the country and we need to take action," Kohl said. "Consumers are cringing when they go to fill up their cars and this amendment would hold OPEC countries accountable for their actions that contribute to high oil prices."

Kohl's NOPEC amendment makes it clear that OPEC's activities are not protected by sovereign immunity and that the federal courts should not decline to hear such a case based on the "act of state" doctrine.  It clears away these technical legal roadblocks so the Department of Justice could bring an antitrust case against OPEC for its price-fixing behavior.

Since May of 2010, the cost of crude oil has risen more than 50 percent, reaching today's level of over $105 per barrel. It is clear that the global oil cartel remains a major force conspiring to raise oil prices to the detriment of American consumers. The actions of the OPEC cartel in recent years demonstrate the dangers it presents. After OPEC agreed to cut production by nearly 4 million barrels a day in two steps in the Fall of 2008, cuts the OPEC President admitted were designed to cause oil prices to rise, prices resumed their march upwards, and are now nearly triple at where they were three years ago. Last June, moreover, OPEC declined to increase production, despite the supply disruptions caused by the turmoil in Libya, an action Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez defended as an attempt to maintain what he called "fair prices."

Co-sponsors of the amendment include Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Al Franken (D-MN).