[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 11974-11975]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      COLLUSION AND PRICE GOUGING

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Madam Speaker, you have got to admit it's a great 
system. The oil companies fill the Republican coffers with campaign 
contributions, and the Republicans pretend that they care about 
consumers while the Republicans stonewall steps to rein in price-
gouging market speculation.
  Remember the Enron loophole? That's 50 cents a gallon at the pump 
today. Ken Lay is dead, but it lives on.
  They are protecting OPEC against World Trade Organization complaints 
that the President refuses to sign. He goes over and holds hands with 
the Saudi princes, but he won't file a complaint against market 
collusion.
  Refineries, you are right. We have got a shortage. ExxonMobil says 
they are doing just fine. They have no plans to build a refinery. They 
are making obscene profits, 6,492 leases, no development. Eighty 
percent of the Outer Continental Shelf reserves are available, no plans 
to drill. Naval Petroleum Reserve, it is 8 years since Clinton leased 
it, zero percent production. There is a sea of oil under it.
  Market forces, 11 bucks in 1 day for a barrel of oil, while 
consumption is way down in the U.S. It's not market forces, it's 
collusion and price gouging. The Bush-Cheney Republican caucus and the 
OPEC cartel are doing just fine the way things are. They pretend they 
want change, but they don't.

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