Washington – Riding a wave of concern over high energy prices triggered by Hurricane Katrina, congressional Republicans began a rush Wednesday to ease environmental rules on refineries and looked for ways to open new coastal waters to oil and gas development.
“More refineries will result in more domestic production of gasoline,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, as his committee began work on the energy legislation. “We cannot stop hurricanes, but we can mitigate some of the adverse impacts.”
Some Democrats, however, called Barton’s bill a subsidy to an energy industry that is reaping huge profits from high oil and gasoline prices and criticized the proposals for not addressing price gouging at the pump. They also argued it would gut major clean-air requirements on refineries.
“It’s … not going to do anything to help consumers” and will “run roughshod” over environmental laws and local involvement in deciding where refineries are located, said U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo.
DeGette is supporting a push by congressional Democrats that would give the Federal Trade Commission enforcement authority over energy companies that engage in price gouging.
The legislation would allow the FTC to punish companies that sell gasoline or other petroleum products at prices that are “unconscionably excessive” or that indicate the seller is “taking unfair advantage of the circumstances to increase prices unreasonably.”
The Denver Post reported Wednesday that oil refiners have more than tripled their gross profits on gasoline during the past year, contributing to record-high gasoline prices.
Colorado’s average price for self-service regular gasoline fell two cents during the past week to $2.88 a gallon, according to AAA Colorado. Colorado’s record high of $3.07 was set Sept. 7.
Barton is expected to garner enough votes to push his proposals through the Energy and Commerce Committee, which he chairs. It’s expected that the full House will take up the legislation in early October.
The Senate has yet to consider post-hurricane energy legislation but was expected to explore new proposals in the coming weeks.
Sponsors of the GOP package said the measures were needed to address the vulnerabilities exposed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to the nation’s energy system, especially the country’s shortage of refineries and the concentration of oil and gas resources in the central and western Gulf of Mexico.
But critics accused House Republicans of exploiting the tragedy that has hit the gulf region to pursue a slew of pro-industry measures that Congress rejected this year when it passed a broad energy bill that was supposed to address the country’s long-term energy problems.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., asked why Republicans were pursuing new “special subsidies” for the refining industry, whose profits he said had increased by 255 percent over the last year, including “loopholes” that would allow refiners to avoid pollution controls under the Clean Air Act.
“This law does nothing to reduce prices,” Markey said.
Barton countered that there has not been a new refinery built in the United States since 1976 and maintained that the provisions in his bill would spur new construction and expansion of existing facilities.
The Barton measure includes easing air-pollution control rules on refineries, setting shorter deadlines for issuing refinery permits and a government-funded “risk insurance” program to shield companies against lengthy regulatory delays in refinery construction. And it would give the federal government greater say in siting refineries and pipelines.
Staff writer Steve Raabe contributed to this report.
