Gas Price Gouging - Call It Like It Is Say Bob Weiner and John Larmett in Seattle PI Op-ed

Posted : Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:17:33 GMT
Author : Robert Weiner Associates
Category : PressRelease

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A former White House and senior congressional Public Affairs Director, Robert Weiner, and John Larmett, former press secretary for Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), contend that despite no current federal law defining the term, oil companies are "price gouging" the American people, abusing "fears of a Turkish invasion of Kurdish Northern Iraq and administration saber rattling about Iran" while "there is no actual shortage."

In an oped today in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Weiner and Larmett argue, "Even if something happened, Kurdish oil production is less than 1/4 of 1% of the world's oil, and all of Iraq generates under 3%. Iran's share of world production is 5%. The oil industry uses the unrealized potential of any small disruption to implement huge price increases. They are abusing the fear factor to repeat and increase what they had last year, the highest profits for any industry in American history, and they'll do it again through war profiteering."

Crude oil, $29.59 a barrel when President Bush took office, is now pushing $100.

Weiner and Larmett point out that that in House and Senate energy bills going to conference, while the President can block "unconscionably excessive prices" in an "emergency," there is no "violation" if the price charged is "attributable to local, regional, national, or international market conditions." Weiner and Larmett contend that with this language, "It is not gouging if the public will bear it. The oil companies could still charge whatever they want -- a loophole big enough for a gas-guzzling Mack truck."

Weiner and Larmett commend Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) for her provision in the Senate version adding a "prohibition on market manipulation," regardless of "emergency" timing. "Cantwell's ban on market manipulation...could have enormous impact on stopping price spikes," Weiner and Larmett argue.

In addition to the oped, Weiner and Larmett added today, "In an unintended consequence, Bush's saber rattling is creating even higher oil prices which gives Iran more money and defeats the purpose of sanctions on Iran to prohibit nuclear weapons."

Contact: Bob Weiner/John Larmett 301-283-0821 or 202-329-1700

Robert Weiner Associates