WASHINGTON  -  U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) today joined her colleagues in Congress in support for two emergency measures to help stabilize U.S. gasoline markets.

 

“We have to consider short term solutions alongside long term solutions to the supply issues Americans face with oil and refined gasoline.  These two measures will provide some tools with which we can fight the high prices at the pump.  First, any person or company that engages in gasoline price gouging or oil profiteering is essentially cheating the American public.  These criminal actions must and will be prosecuted at the federal level.  Only 23 states have laws against price gouging, and in a time of national crisis we need to fight this practice everywhere.

 

H.R. 5253 would prohibit price gouging, at any time, in the market for gasoline, diesel fuel, crude oil, home heating oil, and biofuels.  The bill calls for civil penalties on offenders.

 

The second measure under consideration did not win the 2/3 vote required for passage.  The Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act, H.R. 5254, would have established regulatory certainty for companies as they make long-term decisions to expand refining capacity, removing one key stumbling block to expansion. The bill would help reduce dependence on imported oil and would designate three closed military bases as sites for new American refineries, one of which would be dedicated to biofuels.

 

“The Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act would streamline the process of bringing finished, blended fuels to the market.  By establishing a firm timeline for the permitting of refineries for alternative fuels, we can create a reliable source of biofuels for the market and, hopefully, stabilize prices at the same time.  I urge the House of Representatives to take up this legislation again as soon as possible to provide some important stability to the supply of fuel in this country,” Emerson said.