With Vote in Senate Today, DFL Candidate Urges The Special Interest Senator To Try Something New:
Put Minnesota First

Saint Paul [07/22/08] – U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken today called on Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Big Oil) to reverse his support of foreign oil speculators and back a Democratic bill designed to eliminate their influence on oil markets.

Franken, campaigning today in Duluth (average gas price $3.89) and Cambridge (average gas price $3.69), has been a staunch advocate of cracking down on speculators and investigating price gouging, pointing out that independent experts believe they have contributed as much as $40 to the price of a barrel of oil.

Coleman has twice voted to protect a Republican-created loophole allowing speculators to trade energy futures outside the purview of U.S. regulators and thus drive up the price of oil. Meanwhile, the only solution he has offered for the high prices Minnesotans are paying at the pump – giving away more drilling leases in the Outer Continental Shelf – won’t impact gas prices for at least 22 years.

Al Franken:

“I know it’s popular to say you want to do something about gas prices, but if Norm Coleman really means it, he’ll stop playing partisan games and stop protecting his corporate cronies. This bill isn’t a magic wand, but it’ll have a direct impact on the price Minnesotans pay at the pump.”

Senate Bill Will Toughen Regulations On Oil Speculators. The Senate is expected to vote today on a bill Reuters said would “crack down on excessive oil speculation, which many blame for inflating prices of crude oil and gasoline.” According to the report, the bill “would require institutional traders to give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission more details on unregulated over-the-counter transactions to determine if price manipulation or excessive speculation is occurring. The CFTC also would review trading practices of swaps dealers and commodity index funds. The legislation would not require the higher margins to buy and sell oil that the futures industry had feared. But the bill requires tough position limits on speculators to restrict the number of oil contracts they could control.” [Reuters, 6/21/08]

Coleman Voted Against Closing The “Enron Loophole,” Improving Energy Transparency. In November 2003, Coleman voted against an amendment to close a 2000-enacted provision commonly called the “Enron Loophole.” According to the Associated Press, the loophole “allowed the energy trader to buy and sell energy holdings largely in secret without government regulation.” The amendment “would have improved price transparency in wholesale electricity markets, prohibited manipulation in electricity markets and provided the Commodity Futures Trading Commission more tools to monitor over-the-counter energy markets. Maximum fines for violating either the Federal Power Act or the Natural Gas Act would have risen from $5,000 to $1 million.” [Vote 436, 11/5/03; Environment and Energy Daily, 11/06/03; Associated Press, 11/05/03]

Coleman Voted Against Amendment That Would Make Manipulating Electric Energy Market Illegal. In November 2003, Coleman voted against an amendment the Associated Press said would “make clear in the Federal Power Act that manipulation is illegal in the electricity energy market.” [HR 2673, Vote 439, 11/5/03; Associated Press, 11/05/03]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 10:37 and is filed under Press Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.