05.23.07

Cantwell Calls Bush Veto Threat of Gas Price Gouging Ban Wrong for America

Cantwell: "The only thing that should be vetoed is the current policy of letting oil companies go unchecked and consumers unprotected"

WASHINGTON, DC - Wednesday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) called White House threats to veto anti gas price gouging legislation a disservice to every American consumer. The White House said advisors were recommending the president veto the consumer protection legislation. The House of Representatives passed the bill earlier today, and Cantwell's Senate version of the legislation was passed by the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this month.

"The only thing that should be vetoed here is the current policy of letting oil companies go unchecked and consumers unprotected," said Cantwell, a member of the Senate Energy Committee. "If the oil companies' claims that price gouging is not happening are correct, they have nothing to fear from this law. If they're wrong, the federal government needs the power to protect consumers."

According to AAA, the current average nationwide price of gasoline is $3.22 per gallon, the same price as the all-time, inflation-adjusted record high, set in March 1981. The average price in Washington state is now $3.44 per gallon, with the average Washington household now paying nearly $3,000 more in gas each year than it did just six years ago.

Cantwell's bipartisan gas price gouging bill (S. 1263), included in fuel economy legislation (S. 357) passed by the Senate Energy Committee, is based on Cantwell's measures to ban Enron-style manipulation schemes in the electricity industry. Her legislation would give the president the authority to declare national energy emergencies during which proven price gougers would be subject to new fines and criminal penalties. It would also make efforts to manipulate oil and gasoline markets illegal.

Under the legislation, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)—an independent regulatory agency—could conduct investigations and fine companies for price gouging. The Department of Justice would enforce criminal penalties for gas price gouging during energy emergencies declared by the President. At present, there are no federal laws on the books that address price gouging for oil and gas, though 30 states have laws similar to Cantwell's proposal and it is modeled primarily on a New York statute that has withstood court scrutiny.

Cantwell's anti gas price gouging legislation will be considered by the full Senate in June when the Senate takes up a broad energy package. Tuesday, 17 Democratic Governors sent a letter calling on President Bush to work with Congress to lower gas prices and ban gas price gouging. In their letter, the governors called on the president to "support federal legislation defining and penalizing gas price gouging" and to go after "any anti-trust or commodities violations."

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