Gasoline for America's Security Act of 2005
GASOLINE FOR AMERICA'S SECURITY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - October 07, 2005)
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Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my opposition to H.R. 3893. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused tremendous devastation along the Gulf coast, and I appreciate the need to address the suffering and destruction that resulted. However, I am appalled at this effort by the Republican majority to exploit this national tragedy to weaken environmental, public health, and consumer protections under the guise of lower gasoline prices; and protect consumers from price-gouging on gasoline. Sadly, the bill will accomplish none of these things, while being loaded down with controversial unrelated provisions. This is why it was opposed by every Democrat on the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
While claiming to protect consumers, this bill actually weakens the Federal Trade Commission's authority to deal with price gouging, at a time when we have seen gasoline prices rise at astronomical rates. It focuses all price gouging efforts on mom-and-pop retailers, rather than the big oil companies and refiners who are actually reaping enormous profits. This bill limits the areas that can be investigated for price-gouging, and there is no real enforcement authority to prosecute bad behavior.
The bill gives new regulatory subsidies to the refining industry at a time when that industry's profits are breaking records. The Washington Post reported last month that over the past year, refinery profit margins on a gallon of gasoline have increased over 255 percent. Yet the bill could also put taxpayers on the hook for unlimited damages if a refinery is stalled in litigation or must meet new regulatory standards. The fact is that refineries are not being built in this country because the companies do not want to build them for economic reasons.
And this bill will undermine local control by forcing some communities with closed military bases to accept refineries without having any input in the process. These communities will not be able to develop sites for years even if the Federal Government does not ultimately build refineries on them.
I was at a roundtable with high tech leaders last weekend, and the one thing they talked most about was energy. They emphasized the need for new alternative energy supplies and highlighted the role that new technologies can play in using energy more efficiently and generating it in new ways. Sadly, the Republican bill will do nothing in this area. And one amendment that would have led to real strides in efficiency, the Boehlert-Markey amendment which would have increased fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 33 miles per gallon by 2015, was not even allowed by the Rules Committee. I am incredulous as to how we could be considering a bill that is supposed to address high gasoline prices and not have a debate on increasing the efficiency with which vehicles use fuel. Even the President is now advocating conservation, which his own Vice President once claimed was a virtue but not a policy.
That is why I oppose H.R. 3893 and support the Democratic substitute, which will provide real enforcement against energy price gouging and establish a Strategic Refinery Reserve, patterned on the successful Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to protect against loss of refinery capacity.
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