Statement to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Re: Price Gouging

Today’s gasoline prices highlight fundamental problems in the industry – a lack of competition that enables oil companies to exploit a tight market that they have created and preserved through strategic underinvestment and mismanagement. The prospect of sustained high prices at these levels is alarming to the average American household. If gas prices average $2.75 per gallon over the course of this year, the typical family household will experience an increase of well over $1,000 to their annual gasoline bill compared to the late 1990s.