[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 13, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H2441]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TOWARD A MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT FUTURE WITHOUT BEING PRICE-GOUGED ON WAY 
                                 THERE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2007, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. I thank the Chair.
  I am going to continue the discussion the previous Member started 
with perhaps a little different orientation and, that is, our 
dependence upon oil. I would agree with the gentleman that we need to 
break our dependence upon imported oil. We need to look toward a more 
energy-efficient future. That is going to mean new sources of energy, 
new technologies. I am on a number of bills to make those investments. 
But more immediately, I want to talk about the situation we are in 
today. On the path to that more energy-efficient future, we don't need 
to be fleeced by the oil cartels, which is what is going on now. I am 
not just talking about OPEC but I'll get to them in a moment, but I'm 
getting to the big oil companies--ExxonMobil, record profits last year, 
$3.2 billion a month, $40 billion for the year, $109 million a day, 
$4.6 million an hour of profits for one corporation. Throughout the 
industry, it was repeated.
  Now, the President, an oil man, a failed oil man, and the Vice 
President from Halliburton, another oil man, say there's nothing they 
can do about it, nothing the government can do about it. This is just 
market forces. Market forces.
  Hmm. Let's see. You make gasoline out of crude oil so if the price of 
crude oil goes up, the price of gasoline goes up. Yeah, I understand 
that. That's good. The price of crude oil is up a whopping 3 percent 
over last year. That is about inflation. That's not too bad. That's 
today on the market. Unfortunately, the price of gasoline on the west 
coast is up 20 percent. Now, where did the rest of that market force 
come into play?
  No, what we have here, plain and simple, is price gouging, market 
manipulation and collusion. A number of years ago there was a famous 
memo in the industry that said, you know, the refineries are not 
particularly profitable, but if the industry were to engage in mergers, 
buy out the independent refiners, close them down and decrease the 
refinery capacity in America, that could become a very profitable 
sector. It is. In fact, profits in the refining sector because of 
collusion by Big Oil are up 250 percent. It isn't the guy at the corner 
gas station who's making the money. It's the corporate execs in a 
vertically integrated industry which they're manipulating. The same way 
that Enron manipulated the energy markets in California to drive up the 
price, Big Oil is doing it and they're doing it in the western United 
States right today and across America. They're building up toward that 
orgy of price gouging that happens every year around Memorial Day and 
during the summer driving season. And they say, ``Oh, these are just 
market forces.'' These are not market forces and this government needs 
to address this in a number of ways.
  We need to file a complaint against OPEC. The gentleman before me 
mentioned them. They get together, they collude, they decide to 
constrain the price and drive up the price of crude oil. That's where 
this all starts. Well, it just happens that a number of the major OPEC 
producers are in the World Trade Organization. Our President, a big 
free trader, wants rules-based trade. Well, guess what, the rules don't 
allow OPEC to do that. But will this President file a complaint against 
OPEC? No. I have written to him a number of times and said, President 
Bush, they're violating the World Trade Organization. File a complaint. 
People complain about the United States there all the time. Why don't 
we use that tool to benefit our consumers. No, the President refuses to 
do that. My bill would force the President to file legitimate 
complaints and break up the OPEC cartel. That would help. But then we 
have got to go after the big oil companies themselves. Impose a 
windfall profits tax on these companies, unless they are investing in 
expanding refinery capacity--which they cut in order to increase the 
profitability--exploration or alternative fuels. Make our vehicles more 
efficient. Give incentives to consumers to buy more efficient vehicles. 
Mandate new fleet fuel economy standards. Put a ban on more mergers by 
the oil industry. In fact, my bill would name a commission to 
investigate the market power of Big Oil and maybe we have to think 
about breaking them up and turning this back into a somewhat 
competitive industry.
  Yes, we need to move toward a more energy-efficient future, but we 
don't need to be price-gouged on the way to that goal. And that's what 
is happening today.
  So I am introducing a package of bills oriented toward market 
manipulation, price gouging by Big Oil and OPEC, and also bills that 
would give consumers an incentive and actually help consumers to 
purchase more efficient vehicles in the interim and also push Detroit 
and other manufacturers toward making more efficient vehicles. They 
won't go there until we push them. We had a big fight over fleet fuel 
economy standards. I am very sympathetic to American workers. I 
remember the guys in from Ford, and they said, You don't understand. 
The execs told us, if you make them make more efficient vehicles, 
they'll lay us off. Guess what: They all got laid off because Ford 
didn't make more efficient vehicles.
  It's time for some action on the part of this Congress and this 
government to defend American consumers and lead us toward a more 
energy-efficient future without being price-gouged on the way there.

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