Cantwell Wins Approval for Independent Investigation of Gas Prices, Fuel Market Fundamentals
Government Accountability Office to investigate effects of market transparency, refining capacity, and fuel inventories on gas prices
WASHINGTON, DC – Thursday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) agreed to conduct an investigation of rising fuel costs requested by U.S. Senators Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Inouye and Cantwell sought the investigation after oil companies refused to answer senators’ questions at hearings last year.
“We need real answers that get to the bottom of volatile fuel prices,” said Cantwell, a member of the Senate Energy Committee and the Senate Democrats’ point person on energy issues. “This investigation is a much-needed step. Right now, we don’t know how fuel markets really work and oil companies aren’t giving us the answers we need. If we’re going to deliver America’s working families a more stable energy future, we need transparency and a better understanding of fundamental fuel market dynamics.”
At a hearing last November, 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. Cantwell and six other senators also asked the Senate Commerce Committee, of which Cantwell is a member, to investigate possible price gouging following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last fall.
In a letter sent earlier this month to the GAO, Inouye and Cantwell called on the agency to conduct a comprehensive investigation of fuel inventory practices, refining capacity, and market transparency in an effort to explain years of rising fuel costs. Between March 2005 and March 2006, the price of unleaded regular gasoline in Washington state climbed from $2.23 to $2.56 per gallon, continuing a four-year upward trend.
To further prevent unfair gas price increases, Cantwell has introduced legislation to outlaw oil price-gouging during national emergencies 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 industry, the bill empowers federal regulators to ensure greater market transparency and go after companies for manipulation of oil and gas price. View the Inouye and Cantwell letter to the GAO is here
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