mr. speaker , i rise today to express my opposition to h.r. 3893 . 
hurricanes katrina and rita caused tremendous devastation along the gulf coast , and i appreciate the need to address the suffering and destruction that resulted . 
however , i am appalled at this effort by the republican majority to exploit this national tragedy to weaken environmental , public health , and consumer protections under the guise of lower gasoline prices ; and protect consumers from price-gouging on gasoline . 
sadly , the bill will accomplish none of these things , while being loaded down with controversial unrelated provisions . 
this is why it was opposed by every democrat on the committee on energy and commerce . 
while claiming to protect consumers , this bill actually weakens the federal trade commission 's authority to deal with price gouging , at a time when we have seen gasoline prices rise at astronomical rates . 
it focuses all price gouging efforts on mom-and-pop retailers , rather than the big oil companies and refiners who are actually reaping enormous profits . 
this bill limits the areas that can be investigated for price-gouging , and there is no real enforcement authority to prosecute bad behavior . 
the bill gives new regulatory subsidies to the refining industry at a time when that industry 's profits are breaking records . 
the washington post reported last month that over the past year , refinery profit margins on a gallon of gasoline have increased over 255 percent . 
yet the bill could also put taxpayers on the hook for unlimited damages if a refinery is stalled in litigation or must meet new regulatory standards . 
the fact is that refineries are not being built in this country because the companies do not want to build them for economic reasons . 
and this bill will undermine local control by forcing some communities with closed military bases to accept refineries without having any input in the process . 
these communities will not be able to develop sites for years even if the federal government does not ultimately build refineries on them . 
i was at a roundtable with high tech leaders last weekend , and the one thing they talked most about was energy . 
they emphasized the need for new alternative energy supplies and highlighted the role that new technologies can play in using energy more efficiently and generating it in new ways . 
sadly , the republican bill will do nothing in this area . 
and one amendment that would have led to real strides in efficiency , the boehlert-markey amendment which would have increased fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 33 miles per gallon by 2015 , was not even allowed by the rules committee . 
i am incredulous as to how we could be considering a bill that is supposed to address high gasoline prices and not have a debate on increasing the efficiency with which vehicles use fuel . 
even the president is now advocating conservation , which his own vice president once claimed was a virtue but not a policy . 
that is why i oppose h.r. 3893 and support the democratic substitute , which will provide real enforcement against energy price gouging and establish a strategic refinery reserve , patterned on the successful strategic petroleum reserve , to protect against loss of refinery capacity . 
