12-4-08 by dugan
The price of crude oil is only slightly above $40 a barrel today, about $1.00 a gallon. That’s barely more than one-fourth of the price six months ago. What the slide proves is that, even counting the effects of recession and a stronger dollar, there’s no way that $145 a barrel crude oil had anything to do with supply and demand. A good reason to keep pushing for energy market reforms, as a broad coalition of us are doing in this letter to President-elect Obama.
From our joint press release for the Commodity Markets Oversight Coalition:
December 3, 2008 (Washington, D.C.) – A broad-based coalition of consumer advocates and trade associations has asked President-elect Barack Obama to put an end to the excessive speculation and abusive trade practices in the commodities trading markets that led to an historic run-up in prices earlier this year by approving meaningful new legislation and regulations.
“Fully transparent and well-regulated commodities markets are essential to ensure a fair price for energy other commodities that are based on economic fundamentals,” the members of the Commodity Markets Oversight Coalition (formerly the Energy Market Oversight Coalition) wrote in a Dec. 3 letter to Obama. “The speculative bubble that had been building in these markets had a major role to play in the unfolding economic crisis. This has placed an extreme burden on retailers and consumers and despite a recent decline in commodities prices, should never be allowed to occur again. But many commodity-trading exemptions loopholes and inadequate regulations are still in place and decisive action by our federal government is needed.”
The group, whose members include the New England Fuel Institute, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, the Consumer Federation of America, Public Citizen, the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, the National Farmers Union and the Agricultural Retailers Association, as well as many other national, state and regional energy trade associations, asked Obama to fulfill one of his key campaign promises by working with Congress to enact legislation that would close the loopholes in commodities regulation. A copy of the letter to Obama can be found at PMAA’s anti-excessive speculation website, www.stopoilspeculators.com.
Closing these loopholes, the letter said, will bring transparency and accountability to commodities markets that have become “disconnected” from economic fundamentals such as supply and demand.
There’s more background and info at www.stopoilspeculators.com.
There’s been precious little discussion of energy policy in Washington lately, because of the roiling economic emergency. But what we’re calling for here takes only political will, not money. If Consumer Watchdog, heating oil trade groups and farmers are in agreement, it must be good for everyone.