May 18, 2008

Gasoline Prices

Consumers are fed up with high gas prices, and no consumers have more of a right to be fed up than Oregon consumers who routinely face the highest gasoline prices in the continental United States.   In recent years, while consumers have seen record prices, oil company profits have hit record levels.  Last year, Exxon-Mobile made more profit than any United States corporation has ever reported – a total of $39.5 billion. 

Senator Wyden is alarmed by the high gas prices consumers are now paying and the profits being reaped by the oil industry.  Last year, when the New York Times reported that oil companies, drilling for oil on public property in the Gulf of Mexico, had signed leases with the government that allowed them to escape from paying billions of dollars in royalties to the government, Senator Wyden jumped to fix this injustice.  He went to the Senate floor and filibustered, stopping the Senate from conducting further business while he brought attention to the oil companies freeloading off taxpayers.  As the new Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests, Senator Wyden has made fixing the federal government’s oil and gas leasing programs one of his top priorities.

In addition to changes to the leasing program, there are several potential steps that this Administration could take to protect consumers from anti-competitive practices. Since coming to the Senate, Senator Wyden has released three investigative reports on the various factors contributing to gasoline and oil price increases, including the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) inaction when it comes to protecting consumers:

Senator Wyden is also seriously concerned with gas price gouging and has been working hard to protect consumers from this unscrupulous practice.  He joined a number of colleagues in calling for federal measures to protect consumers against gas price gouging and in 2005 testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, urging the Committee to adopt his proposal to provide the FTC with the ability to stop gas price gouging whenever and wherever it takes place.  For a copy of his testimony, click here.

Another way Senator Wyden believes the cost of gasoline can be reduced is to make it easier for consumers to buy more fuel efficient vehicles and to promote new sources of energy, such as biofuels, that will compete with gasoline and diesel fuel.   Working with U.S. Senator Bob Bennet, Wyden authored the Oil Independence, Limiting Subsidies and Accelerating Vehicle Efficiency (OILSAVE) Act.  This legislation would give a consumer a tax credit, for as much as $1,860, for buying a care or light truck that had gas mileage of 25 percent or more above the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency level set by the Federal Government.  He is also a strong supporter of development of biofuels, such as ethanol made from wheat straw, wood chips, and other biomass, and biodiesel.  These fuels provide additional sources of supply with lower emission of pollution and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

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