US Congress set to battle over gas-price 'gouging'
The Senate and House make a controversial move to control alleged profiteering.
from the June 20, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Senate bill limited to emergencies
The Senate provision is similar. It would not be triggered unless the president declares a national energy emergency, however.
At a hearing earlier this year, Representative Stupak, a chairman of a House energy subcommittee, said "this year's run-up in gas prices has not been the result of crude oil prices but some other factor or factors."
The fact that fewer and fewer firms control US refining capacity might be one reason, said Stupak.
"The number of companies owning refineries is less than one-third what it was [in 1981]," he said.
Some 29 states already have their own price-gouging laws. In May, Attorney General Greg Stumbo of Kentucky filed suit against Marathon Oil, accusing it of overcharging state consumers by more than $89 million after hurricanes Katrina and Rita tore through the nation's midsection in 2005.
But in general the state statutes have produced nothing but an occasional citation against an individual retailer, says Ben Lieberman, an energy expert at the Heritage Foundation.
On the national level, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigated the post-Katrina price surge and found it was largely the result of supply shortages caused by damage to refineries, says Mr. Lieberman.
"There have been many investigations, and time and time again the industry has been exonerated," he says.
The FTC itself is opposed to the existing efforts to ban price gouging at the federal level.
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