Tell President Biden: We Need Executive Action to Stop Big Oil Price Gouging
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
We are united in supporting Ukraine’s fight against Putin’s invasion, and applaud your bold action in getting our allies to join the US in releasing 60 million barrels from strategic petroleum reserves. Unfortunately, in spite of your direct appeals to oil company executives to help the world curb Putin’s aggression, oil prices at the pump continue to rise.
It’s time to use your authority under the Defense Production Act to issue executive orders to address this crisis:
Use the DPA to “combat and prohibit hoarding and price gouging with respect to those [oil and gas] resources” as the Trump administration did regarding PPE during the pandemic, and
Use the DPA to increase production of renewable energy, convert all federal vehicles to electric power, and steer the nation's economy away from dependence on fossil fuels.
We also ask you to make additional releases from the strategic oil reserve to counter shortage-caused price spikes as needed. That's the main purpose of the strategic reserve; now is the time to use it.
Background
Economic warfare is expensive. For weeks now, the West has been trying to thwart Russia's war of conquest against Ukraine by banning its exports, weakening its currency, personally sanctioning Putin and his oligarch cronies, and making it more difficult for them to stash or spend their ill-gotten loot. This is having the intended effect on the Russian economy but has also exacerbated inflation here at home, particularly energy costs. Elsewhere in the world, our economic sanctions against Russia will have serious consequences, such as in Middle Eastern and African nations that rely on Russia for wheat and other grains.
In recent years, Russia has supplied roughly 10% of the world's oil (though just 3% of America's). Since oil prices are set globally, blocking Russian petroleum exports affects prices everywhere. But other factors also affect oil prices: supply chain problems, increased demand as the effects of the pandemic recede, deliberate efforts by oil-exporting nations to jack up prices, and the greed of the Big Oil corporations that are price gouging to drive up their profits. Some of those factors are beyond the control of the American government, but not all of them. The effects of supply and demand can be mitigated by releasing even more petroleum from the strategic reserve (which is what it was set up for) and price gouging can be addressed by executive orders.
In the summer of 2020, at the urging of Congressional Democrats, Trump used his power under the Defense Production Act (DPA) to issue an Executive Order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to go after suppliers of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to “combat and prohibit hoarding and price gouging with respect to those resources.” President Biden can do the same in this energy supply emergency by empowering the Departments of Energy and Commerce to set standards to stop the price gouging by Big Oil.
We also agree with the 200+ environmental groups that have called on President Joe Biden this month to invoke the Defense Production Act and use his executive powers to increase production of renewable energy and steer the nation's economy away from fossil fuels. He could respond to this oil price gouging crisis by using the DPA to empower various government departments to accelerate conversion to sustainable power sources. Doing that now could also deliver significant progress in addressing the climate emergency, which millions of Americans voted for.
References
Gas Prices
Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Investor Calls Reveal Oil Execs Relishing in Windfall from High Prices , Documented.net, 3/17/22
Biden Urged to Invoke Cold-War Powers to Blunt Energy Price Hike - Bloomberg, 3/12/22
Here's How Biden Can Lower Gas Prices, The Intelligencer, 3/13/22
Defense Production Act
The Defense Production Act of 1950: History, Authorities, and Considerations for Congress (PDF)
Trump Signs Executive Order on Medical Device Supply Chain, Lawfare, 9/8/20
Biden Urged To Use Defense Law To Boost Renewable Energy - Law360 , 3/10/22
Price Gouging
Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Investor Calls Reveal Oil Execs Relishing in Windfall from High Prices , Documented.net, 3/17/22
About - Americans For Tax Fairness is a great resource for monitoring our tax system and advocating for a more equitable system
Corporate Price Gouging and Tax Dodging , Americans for Tax Fairness, 3/17/21
There Is No Effective Fiduciary Duty to Maximize Profits | by James Kwak | Bull Market | Medium, 1/8/15
Combatting Price Gouging & Hoarding , Department of Justice ongoing efforts to monitor Covid-related abuses, Updated 8/3/21