[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 42 (Wednesday, April 5, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S2898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY ANTITRUST ACT OF 2006

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am proud to join with Senators Specter, 
Kohl, DeWine and others on a new bill, the Oil and Gas Industry 
Antitrust Act of 2006, which includes, as its centerpiece, our NOPEC 
legislation, which many of us have worked together on for years.
  This measure--The No Oil Producing And Exporting Cartels Act, NOPEC--
would make OPEC accountable for its anticompetitive behavior and allow 
the Justice Department to crack down on illegal price manipulation by 
oil cartels. It will allow the Federal Government to take legal action 
against any foreign state, including members of OPEC, for price fixing 
and other anticompetitive activities. The tools this bill would provide 
to law enforcement agencies are necessary to immediately counter OPEC's 
anticompetitive practices, and these tools would help reduce gasoline 
prices now.
  The Congress should pass this measure immediately instead of waiting 
until the price of gasoline at the pump is $4 a gallon. OPEC has 
America over a barrel, and we should fight back. If OPEC were simply a 
foreign business engaged in this type of behavior, it would already be 
subject to American antitrust law. It is wrong to let OPEC producers 
off the hook just because their anticompetitive practices come with the 
seal of approval of this cartel's member nations.
  It is time for the President to join the bipartisan majority in the 
Senate which already said ``NO'' to OPEC by passing NOPEC and by 
sending it to the other body, where it was killed.
  The Senate has already passed this bill, which would make OPEC 
subject to our antitrust laws. In fact, the Judiciary Committee has 
approved the NOPEC bill three times. Regrettably, even though President 
Bush promised in 2000 that he would ``jawbone OPEC,'' the Bush 
administration and its friends in the House have scuttled the NOPEC 
bill and the direct and daily relief it would bring to millions of 
Americans.
  In addition, this bill makes it unlawful to divert petroleum or 
natural gas products from their local market to a distant market with 
the primary intention of increasing prices or creating a shortage in a 
market. This solves a real problem where products are being shipped for 
sale in that market but are later diverted and sold for less in another 
market.
  We have an obligation to address these and other issues caused by oil 
cartels and by greedy companies who have money--that they have 
extracted from the American people--to burn. That is why I am also 
pleased that the bill includes provisions to conduct several studies 
that address serious competition, information sharing, and other 
antitrust problem areas related to the oil and natural gas industries. 
The American people deserve answers, and this bill also provides a path 
to getting those answers.
  Authorizing tough legal action against illegal oil price fixing, and 
taking that action without delay, is one thing we can do without 
additional obstruction or delay.
  The artificial pricing scheme enforced by OPEC affects all of us, not 
the least of whom are hardworking Vermont farmers. The overall increase 
in fuel costs for an average Vermont farmer last year was 43 percent, 
meaning that each farmer is estimated to pay an additional $700 in fuel 
surcharges in 2006 alone. Vermonters know what the terrible 
consequences of these high prices can be: forcing many farmers to make 
unfair choices between running their farms or heating their homes. No 
one should be forced to make these choices, certainly not our hard-
working farmers.
  In summary, this bill will provide law enforcement with the tools 
necessary to fight OPEC's anticompetitive practices immediately, and 
help reduce gasoline prices now. I urge my colleagues to support this 
bill, and to say ``NO'' to OPEC as we have done in the past.

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