House Passes Bill to Sue OPEC Over Oil Prices
Tuesday 20 May 2008
by: Reuters
Washington - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure. The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow.
The measure passed in a 324-84 vote, a big enough margin to override a presidential veto.
The legislation also creates a Justice Department task force to aggressively investigate gasoline price gouging and energy market manipulation.
Comments:
I find very few issues with which I agree with George Bush but he is absolutely correct to veto this legislation. I admit I haven’t read the bill but I get the sense that there is a witch hunt going on here and this legislation serves as a no-brainer for politicians pandering to their constituency. The problem is that it promotes the myth that there is someone to blame rather than simply supply and demand and our unwillingness to look honestly in the mirror at our wastefulness. I agree with the White Houses assessment that targeting OPEC investment in the United States as a source for damage awards “would likely spur retaliatory action against American interests in those countries and lead to a reduction in oil available to U.S. refiners.” Do we still not understand sovereign rights? The oil belongs to the country that holds it and they will act in their own best interest.
