Jamie Court Pump Quotations

Representative Barton's legislation rolls out the red carpet for oil company profiteers who have intentionally reduced refining capacity to pump up profits to world record levels, ... Since deregulation in 1982, oil consumption has increased 33 percent, but oil companies have reduced refining capacity by about 10 percent. The answer is not more carrots for the industry, like gutting environmental laws and immunizing companies for the harm they cause, but sticks such as forcing companies to invest in beefing up refining capacity when it is needed. We need supply side regulation, not more supply side economics.

The Attorney General should make clear that if oil companies raise wholesale gasoline prices without cause then the companies will be prosecuted for gouging consumers at the pump since station owners have very little choice over how much they can charge,

intentionally reduced refining capacity to pump up profits to world-record levels.