Brown takes aim at steep increase in gas prices

By BOB BLAKE

WASHINGTON — A recent visit to a Cleveland-area gas station was a vivid reminder that soaring gas prices affect everyone, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said Wednesday.

With prices staying at or above $4 for a gallon of unleaded gasoline, Brown said everyone — from small business owners, commuters going back and forth to work, truckers and station owners who are selling fewer inside the store products who are suffering.

“I got a letter from a constituent who said, ‘Washington, I hope gets involved in the rising cost of gas because people need to get back and forth to work,’” Brown, D-Ohio, said. “It really is as simple as that. That’s what we’re trying to do with two pieces of legislation.”

Brown said the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act would end more than $4 billion in tax deductions, subsidies, and royalty relief given to the five biggest oil companies each year. The savings would go toward paying down the federal deficit, he said. The second bill, the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, would give the federal government more authority to take action against countries within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that manipulate the price of oil through collusion or price-fixing.

“It’s bad enough that Ohioans have to pay more than $4 a gallon at the gas pump when the oil prices rise due to price-fixing by OPEC countries or speculation by Wall Street investors,” Brown said. “They shouldn’t need to subsidize the biggest and most profitable oil companies through the tax code as well. Big Oil is reaping huge profits while working- and middle-class Ohioans struggle to make ends meet. It’s about time this corporate welfare meets its end.”

Brown conceded lawmakers can’t “wave a magic wand and make prices go down.” The proposals, however, would help rein in rampant speculation and force OPEC nations to the bargaining table, he said.

“The Saudis and other OPEC nations have assets they own in the U.S. They have bank accounts, they have investments, they have property. The U.S. can execute against these assets,” Brown said. “A similar idea was executed previously in a different context. Congress stripped state sponsors of terrorism from sovereign immunity, cases have been brought and won against countries like Iran and Libya. I am in no way suggesting all these cartel nations engage in terrorist behavior, I’m only saying there is a legal way to pursue this.”

Published in The Lima News: May 12, 2011