Statement of Congressman John D. Dingell, Ranking Member
Committee on Energy and Commerce

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
MARKUP OF H.R. 3893,
THE "GASOLINE FOR AMERICA'S
SECURITY ACT OF 2005"

September 28, 2005

We meet here today to consider a hastily crafted, minimally reviewed bill of dubious virtue. The legislation was not provided to Members until after close of business on Friday. While this Committee has always stood ready to act on emergency legislation on an expedited basis, this legislation is not emergency legislation. Refinery siting, for example, is a long term matter, and it was considered in the recent energy bill.

To act on this bill at this time has the potential to embarrass the Committee. How can we make informed decisions without a single hearing on the specific measures before us? How can we understand refining issues when we have not received a single response to questions we asked of the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency? How do we know whether the provisions in the energy bill passed less than two months ago to expedite refinery siting are working? How do we really know what these provisions on refinery siting will do?

The President stated when he signed the energy bill that it was not going to affect gasoline prices in the short run, and he was correct. In fact, prices continued to rise even before Hurricane Katrina. Clearly, none of the provisions in H.R. 3893 will bring down prices either.

There can be only one explanation for this rush to markup and then to the Floor, and it is the desire of the Republican leadership of the House to use the hardships and devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to push various parts of their agenda. The Majority Leader, as is his custom, has tried to blame Democrats for all ills, saying “[t]he Democrats made us drop many important issues out of the last energy bill that . . . would have helped this situation that we have found ourselves in now, and it is time to go back and revisit those.”

But poorly thought out and poorly vetted efforts to pass industrial and ideological wish lists are not the way to respond to the actual energy issues raised by Katrina.

We have unfortunately seen this same trend in other areas, such as the President’s decision to allow companies such as Halliburton to pay workers wages that are below the prevailing wage. And, other committees are reportedly looking to write laws that will waive all manner of environmental laws with the wave of a Presidential wand. Lobbyists will have a field day with these waiver provisions.

 If we decide to act on an expedited basis, we should be focusing the immediate problems of rising gasoline prices and the anticipated increases in natural gas and home heating oil prices. In the Midwest, natural gas prices have been estimated to increase by 71 percent this winter and that was before Hurricane Rita.

My able colleague Bart Stupak has been working on legislation to deal with price gouging. His legislation is designed to focus on the practices of the entire industry and not just the local gas station. And when it comes to issues such as refineries, our immediate attention should be directed towards how best to bring existing facilities back on line, and the need to create reserve capacity that is not controlled by the newly prosperous refining industry. We need to create a Strategic Refinery Reserve, as a commonsense companion to the successful Strategic Petroleum Reserve. My able colleagues Rick Boucher and Ed Markey have been working with me on legislation that will direct the Secretary of Energy to establish and operate refineries that will help protect our national security and consumers from supply disruptions.

I joined with the Chairman in negotiating and passing the Energy Policy Act of 2005. His behavior in those negotiations was remarkably fair and conciliatory. This partisan and rushed process is a particular disappointment to me. If and when this Committee decides to address these issues in a serious and sound way, I will be ready to help. But I cannot cooperate given an unwise process that can only produce doomed legislation.

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(Contact: Jodi Seth, 202-225-3641)