Press Release of Senator Cantwell

With Soaring Summer Fuel Prices Ahead, Cantwell Calls on Bush to Support Gas Price-Gouging Ban

Prices projected to rise 25 cents per gallon higher than last year; Cantwell legislation would increase transparency, prohibit profiteering

Tuesday, April 18,2006

WASHINGTON, DC – Tuesday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a member of the Senate Commerce and Energy Committees, led 15 other senators in calling on President Bush to support anti gas price-gouging legislation currently pending before Congress. Cantwell’s Energy Emergency Consumer Protection Act would ban profiteering at the gas pump, empower regulators to go after companies suspected of price-gouging, and increase market transparency.

“Today’s volatile fuel prices are hurting families, farmers, and businesses across our state and our country,” said Cantwell, the Senate Democrats’ point person on energy issues. “Now, the Energy Department says this summer’s prices will climb even higher. The president recently acknowledged our oil addiction. If he’s serious about securing a better energy future for America, he should support a tough law that prohibits profiteering in the oil and gas industry. We need to make absolutely certain Americans aren’t the victims of price-gouging when they go to the gas pump this summer.”

Last November, after receiving the full-backing of 29 other senators, eight governors, and nine attorneys general, Cantwell’s legislation came up for a vote on the Senate floor, but fell just three votes short of the 60-vote supermajority needed for passage. On Tuesday, Cantwell and 15 of her Senate colleagues wrote President Bush urging his support of the bill and his help in ensuring that this important consumer protection measure becomes law before summer.

“You are undoubtedly aware of projections from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) that gas prices will rise 25 cents per gallon across this nation compared to last summer,” the senators wrote. “In light of these projections, we believe a federal anti-price gouging law should be enacted before the summer driving season begins in earnest, this Memorial Day.”

The Energy Emergency Consumer Protection Act, introduced by Cantwell last September, would outlaw oil price-gouging during national emergencies, impose tougher fines and criminal penalties on violators, and give the Federal Trade Commission and state Attorneys General new powers to protect Americans from artificially inflated gas prices. Based on Cantwell’s measures passed last summer to ban Enron-style manipulation schemes in the electricity and natural gas industries, the bill empowers federal regulators to ensure greater market transparency and go after companies that manipulate oil and gas prices. Several states already have similar laws on the books; Cantwell’s legislation would create a national standard, given the interstate nature of American fuel markets.

Today’s efforts follow in a long line of work by Cantwell to secure fair, stable energy prices for American families and businesses. At a hearing last November, to get to the bottom of years of rising fuel costs as well as possible price gouging following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Cantwell questioned oil company CEOs about below-average reserve capacities, unregulated trading markets, and exporting of gasoline during times of record U.S. prices. In response, oil executives told Cantwell they would provide data to answer her questions, but later refused to disclose much of the requested information. To get the answers oil companies refused to provide, Cantwell and Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Co-Chairman of the Commerce Committee, requested a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into fuel inventory practices, refining capacity, and market transparency. The GAO has said it will begin the investigation later this year.

Cantwell is also leading a coalition of 52 members of Congress asking President Bush to convene an emergency energy summit, open to all stakeholders, to protect consumers, promote innovation, and spur economic growth through the development of long-term solutions to America’s energy needs. As the chair of the Senate Democrats’ Energy Independence 2020 national campaign, Cantwell is working to break America’s overdependence on foreign oil, protect working families from skyrocketing energy costs, and spur investments in clean, reliable sources of affordable fuel.

[The text of the senators’ letter to President Bush follows below]

April 18, 2006

The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President,

We are writing to enlist your support in enacting strong consumer protection measures that will protect American consumers from price gouging at the gas pump this summer. You are undoubtedly aware of projections from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) that gas prices will rise 25 cents per gallon across this nation compared to last summer. In light of these projections, we believe a federal anti-price gouging law should be enacted before the summer driving season begins in earnest, this Memorial Day.

Already, price gouging legislation (S. 1735) exists that has been cosponsored by nearly a third of the United States Senate, and endorsed by a number of state Attorneys General. This legislation would give federal and state regulators new authority to prosecute price gouging in the wake of national energy emergencies, as well as put in place measures to ban manipulation and enhance the transparency of our nation’s fuel markets. One of the hallmarks of this legislation is that it would also apply to the wholesale fuel markets—an important distinction, given that it is often the large vertically integrated oil companies that dictate the prices that gasoline retailers can charge. While the oil companies rake in record profits, it is often these retailers that bear the brunt of consumer anger.

A strong federal price gouging law is only one element of the equation when it comes to putting our nation on the path toward greater energy independence. A comprehensive and smart approach to this vital issue of national security will help curb the tremendous volatility in energy prices that is impacting consumers, businesses and the American economy as a whole. We have thus far been disappointed by your Administrations’ lack of response to our invitation to co-host an emergency bipartisan national energy summit. This offer still stands. However, in the absence of leadership or cooperation from your Administration, we will soon be moving ahead with our own set of real solutions, which will spur the kind of innovation and investment America needs to secure its energy future for the 21st Century.

Our oil dependency is one of the greatest economic and national security challenges faced by our generation. The status quo—in which the security of the United States and our domestic economy is left to the whims of foreign regimes and companies that do not have the best interests of our nation at heart --is simply not an option. How quickly and aggressively we rise to meet this challenge will be one of the most important tests on which future generations of Americans will measure our leadership and resolve. As such, we hope you will join with us in acting quickly to protect American consumers from price gouging this summer and to vastly accelerate market penetration of biofuels, alternative fuels, and energy efficiency vehicles and technologies. We stand ready to work with you to develop a serious national strategy to curb America’s dangerous dependence on oil.

Sincerely,

Senator Maria Cantwell
Senator Harry Reid
Senator Richard Durbin
Senator John Kerry
Senator Joe Lieberman
Senator Russ Feingold
Senator Evan Bayh
Senator Ron Wyden
Senator Debbie Stabenow
Senator Hillary Clinton
Senator Jack Reed
Senator Barbara Mikulski
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Byron Dorgan
Senator Joe Biden
Senator Robert Menendez


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Maria's Monday Memo To sign up for Maria's weekly newsletter, enter your email address: Search The Site	News Press Release of Senator Cantwell With Soaring Summer Fuel Prices Ahead, Cantwell Calls on Bush to Support Gas Price-Gouging Ban Prices projected to rise 25 cents per gallon higher than last year; Cantwell legislation would increase transparency, prohibit profiteering Tuesday, April 18,2006 WASHINGTON, DC – Tuesday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), a member of the Senate Commerce and Energy Committees, led 15 other senators in calling on President Bush to support anti gas price-gouging legislation currently pending before Congress. Cantwell’s Energy Emergency Consumer Protection Act would ban profiteering at the gas pump, empower regulators to go after companies suspected of price-gouging, and increase market transparency. “Today’s volatile fuel prices are hurting families, farmers, and businesses across our state and our country,” said Cantwell, the Senate Democrats’ point person on energy issues. “Now, the Energy Department says this summer’s prices will climb even higher. The president recently acknowledged our oil addiction. If he’s serious about securing a better energy future for America, he should support a tough law that prohibits profiteering in the oil and gas industry. We need to make absolutely certain Americans aren’t the victims of price-gouging when they go to the gas pump this summer.” Last November, after receiving the full-backing of 29 other senators, eight governors, and nine attorneys general, Cantwell’s legislation came up for a vote on the Senate floor, but fell just three votes short of the 60-vote supermajority needed for passage. On Tuesday, Cantwell and 15 of her Senate colleagues wrote President Bush urging his support of the bill and his help in ensuring that this important consumer protection measure becomes law before summer. “You are undoubtedly aware of projections from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) that gas prices will rise 25 cents per gallon across this nation compared to last summer,” the senators wrote. “In light of these projections, we believe a federal anti-price gouging law should be enacted before the summer driving season begins in earnest, this Memorial Day.” The Energy Emergency Consumer Protection Act, introduced by Cantwell last September, would outlaw oil price-gouging during national emergencies, impose tougher fines and criminal penalties on violators, and give the Federal Trade Commission and state Attorneys General new powers to protect Americans from artificially inflated gas prices. Based on Cantwell’s measures passed last summer to ban Enron-style manipulation schemes in the electricity and natural gas industries, the bill empowers federal regulators to ensure greater market transparency and go after companies that manipulate oil and gas prices. Several states already have similar laws on the books; Cantwell’s legislation would create a national standard, given the interstate nature of American fuel markets. Today’s efforts follow in a long line of work by Cantwell to secure fair, stable energy prices for American families and businesses. At a hearing last November, to get to the bottom of years of rising fuel costs as well as possible price gouging following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Cantwell questioned oil company CEOs about below-average reserve capacities, unregulated trading markets, and exporting of gasoline during times of record U.S. prices. In response, oil executives told Cantwell they would provide data to answer her questions, but later refused to disclose much of the requested information. To get the answers oil companies refused to provide, Cantwell and Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Co-Chairman of the Commerce Committee, requested a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into fuel inventory practices, refining capacity, and market transparency. The GAO has said it will begin the investigation later this year. Cantwell is also leading a coalition of 52 members of Congress asking President Bush to convene an emergency energy summit, open to all stakeholders, to protect consumers, promote innovation, and spur economic growth through the development of long-term solutions to America’s energy needs. As the chair of the Senate Democrats’ Energy Independence 2020 national campaign, Cantwell is working to break America’s overdependence on foreign oil, protect working families from skyrocketing energy costs, and spur investments in clean, reliable sources of affordable fuel. [The text of the senators’ letter to President Bush follows below] April 18, 2006 The Honorable George W. Bush The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President, We are writing to enlist your support in enacting strong consumer protection measures that will protect American consumers from price gouging at the gas pump this summer. You are undoubtedly aware of projections from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) that gas prices will rise 25 cents per gallon across this nation compared to last summer. In light of these projections, we believe a federal anti-price gouging law should be enacted before the summer driving season begins in earnest, this Memorial Day. Already, price gouging legislation (S. 1735) exists that has been cosponsored by nearly a third of the United States Senate, and endorsed by a number of state Attorneys General. This legislation would give federal and state regulators new authority to prosecute price gouging in the wake of national energy emergencies, as well as put in place measures to ban manipulation and enhance the transparency of our nation’s fuel markets. One of the hallmarks of this legislation is that it would also apply to the wholesale fuel markets—an important distinction, given that it is often the large vertically integrated oil companies that dictate the prices that gasoline retailers can charge. While the oil companies rake in record profits, it is often these retailers that bear the brunt of consumer anger. A strong federal price gouging law is only one element of the equation when it comes to putting our nation on the path toward greater energy independence. A comprehensive and smart approach to this vital issue of national security will help curb the tremendous volatility in energy prices that is impacting consumers, businesses and the American economy as a whole. We have thus far been disappointed by your Administrations’ lack of response to our invitation to co-host an emergency bipartisan national energy summit. This offer still stands. However, in the absence of leadership or cooperation from your Administration, we will soon be moving ahead with our own set of real solutions, which will spur the kind of innovation and investment America needs to secure its energy future for the 21st Century. Our oil dependency is one of the greatest economic and national security challenges faced by our generation. The status quo—in which the security of the United States and our domestic economy is left to the whims of foreign regimes and companies that do not have the best interests of our nation at heart --is simply not an option. How quickly and aggressively we rise to meet this challenge will be one of the most important tests on which future generations of Americans will measure our leadership and resolve. As such, we hope you will join with us in acting quickly to protect American consumers from price gouging this summer and to vastly accelerate market penetration of biofuels, alternative fuels, and energy efficiency vehicles and technologies. We stand ready to work with you to develop a serious national strategy to curb America’s dangerous dependence on oil. Sincerely, Senator Maria Cantwell Senator Harry Reid Senator Richard Durbin Senator John Kerry Senator Joe Lieberman Senator Russ Feingold Senator Evan Bayh Senator Ron Wyden Senator Debbie Stabenow Senator Hillary Clinton Senator Jack Reed Senator Barbara Mikulski Senator Dianne Feinstein Senator Byron Dorgan Senator Joe Biden Senator Robert Menendez
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