DeLauro urges Senate passage of bill to fight gas price gouging

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, is calling on members of the Senate to pass legislation that would provide consumers nationwide protection against what she and other lamakers say is price gouging by large oil companies.

The Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act, which has already been approved by Congress, would give President Joe Biden the power to declare a national energy emergency, making it illegal to sell fuels for cars, planes, home heating oil, and propane at excessive and exploitative prices.

DeLauro highlighted the House passage of the legislation during a press conference Friday at Ansonia's transfer station, where the city has a large gas storage tank. Her announcement came at the start of the long Memorial Day holiday weekend, which is traditionally viewed as the start of the summer travel season.

“Americans are facing sticker shock with fuel prices,” DeLauro said. “It is time we hold Big Oil accountable for price gouging, war profiteering, and artificially keeping prices high for their own benefit, all while posting record profits. People need a government that looks out for – not one that answers to the wealthiest and biggest corporations.”

The proposed legislation would be the first federal law against price gouging, according to DeLauro. Under current federal law, a U.S. president can only declare an energy emergency after a natural disaster, she said.

If approved by the Senate and signed into law by

President Biden, the bill would give the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general the power to issue penalties against fuel wholesalers and retailers for price gouging during an energy emergency.

All financial penalties collected would go into the Consumer Relief Trust Fund, which would be used for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Weatherization Assistance Program to help further reduce costs for consumers.

DeLauro stressed that the small business people who operate independentlyowned gas stations shouldn't blamed for price gouging at the wholesale level or increased costs through the supply chain.

“They shouldn't be taking the blame for a situation they didn't cause,” she said.

DeLauro said large oil companies “are hoarding” drilling leases they hold on public land by not using them . Of the 26 million acres of public property the oil companies hold leases for, they only use 53 percent of that land, she said.

Rob Underwood, president of the Energy Marketers Of America, represents independent gas station owners across the country. During a teleconference with reporters hosted by the American Petroleum Institute on Thursday, Underwood said speculators in the futures market and high processing fees from credit card companies are responsible, at least in part, for the continued escalation of energy prices.

“Our members are hurting just as much as the average American consumer,” he said. “And the the credit card industry is making more than we are every time customers swipe their credit cards to pay for gas.”

The average national retail price for a gallon of gas over the past month has gone from just under $4.18 to $4.60 per gallon on Friday, according to GasBuddy, the fuel price tracking website. In Connecticut, a gallon of gas as gone from about $4 per gallon to $4.67 per gallon on Friday.