Cardin Says Proposed Energy Bill Will Not Lower Prices At The Pump
Friday October 07, 2005
"Instead, It Could Lead to Even Greater Oil Industry Profits"
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin today denounced the energy bill that will be voted on by the House of Representatives as "a smoke screen that will do nothing to lower gas prices or home heating prices for Americans who clearly have been victimized by price gouging."
The bill also provides broad-ranging exemptions from Clean Air Act rules that go far beyond oil refining. Maryland Attorney General Joe Curran said this bill "permanently weakens key New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act that are an important tool in the State's effort to attain compliance with the federal ambient air quality standards."
The Congressman, who is a long-time supporter of renewable energy and conservation efforts, said we need an energy bill that will "make our nation energy self-sufficient, not one that rolls back clean air standards in order to maximize profits for energy companies."
Rep. Cardin pointed to a provision in the bill that supposedly limits price-gouging, but is aimed at gas retailers -- not the major oil companies which are making record profits. The provision limits any penalties for gouging to $11,000 per day. The Congressman noted that recent analysis of gas price increases found that retailers' margins have increased by 1-cent per gallon while refineries' margins have increased by 71-cents per gallon.
"We need a comprehensive, long-term energy policy for this country, one that places emphasis on increasing the availability and use of renewable energy, promoting greater energy efficiency that new technologies afford us, and conservation. This bill will not solve our energy problems and it will not protect Americans from price-gouging. Instead, it will make our air quality worse," said Rep. Cardin.
The Congressman supports alternative legislation that would increase the penalty for price-gouging from $11,000 a day to $3 million a day, give authority to the Federal Trade Commission to stop price-gouging of gasoline and diesel fuels in addition to natural gas home heating oil and propone. It also would empower state attorneys general to enforce the federal anti-gouging law in addition to their own state laws.
http://www.cardin.house.gov/index.cfm?ContentID=1881&ParentID=29&SectionID=42&SectionTree=29,42&lnk=b&ItemID=1872