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Bringing Down The Cost of Fuel

Senator Leahy recently joined with Senate Democrats as a cosponsor of the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008.  This legislation is a strong response to the disastrous policies of the Bush Administration that have led to dangerously high fuel prices for consumers and windfall profits for oil companies.  The bill includes a host of initiatives long supported by Senator Leahy, including:

• Imposing a Windfall Profits Tax on any excess profits that the oil companies have not invested in clean, affordable and domestically produced renewable alternative fuels, expanding refinery capacity and utilization, or renewable electricity production.

• Eliminating Tax Breaks for Oil and Gas Companies by repealing the deduction for domestic production for the major oil and gas companies for their income on the sale of oil and natural gas products; and tightening the rules restricting the use of foreign tax credits on oil and gas related income.

• Suspending Filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve through December 2008, and allowing filling to resume when the 90-day average price of crude oil dips below $75 per barrel.

• Punishing Price Gouging by giving the President the authority to declare an energy emergency if there is a shortage, disruption or significant pricing anomalies, and during such an emergency, punishing those who set an “unconscionably excessive price.”

• Limiting Price Impacts of Excessive Speculation by preventing traders of domestic crude oil from routing transactions through offshore markets to evade speculative limits.

• Supporting the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) Act, which allows the Attorney General to bring an enforcement action against any country or company that is colluding in setting the price of oil, natural gas or any petroleum product.