mr. speaker , first of all , at the appropriate time , i will enter some extraneous information into the record . 
mr. speaker , it is very clear when we look at what has happened in the last few years where we have had a number of mergers of oil companies , the top five oil companies , i believe , now dominate more than a third of the market . 
as a result , we see that prices keep increasing as market concentration increases . 
this is a clear example of what happens when monopolies dominate an economy . 
we have high prices , and we also have manipulation of supplies , increased profits ; and now we have price gouging . 
with this manipulation of supply , we are also seeing an attempt today to attack our environmental laws . 
that puts us in a position where we sacrifice not only the standard of living of many americans to the oil companies but now we are sacrificing the environment itself . 
i think that many americans are already aware that one of the reasons that we are in iraq is because of oil . 
i mean , very few people would dispute that now . 
there were no weapons of mass destruction , they are not going to have a democracy there , but the administration is preparing to stay there for the long haul , and it is because of oil . 
oil is corrupting this government . 
oil is costing us peace in the world . 
oil is putting us on a path to economic ruin . 
oil is dominating this political process right now . 
we need to take a new course . 
we can start with the windfall profits tax , but we have to go beyond that . 
we need to look at alternative energy , the power of the sun . 
sunlight is a disinfectant in many ways , but it is also a powerful energy source . 
we need wind power , we need geothermal , we need to tap all available technologies to take us in a new direction where the globe itself is not at stake . 
what a disgrace it is that we put the lives and the existence of the gwitchin indians in alaska at risk for more oil . 
what a disgrace it is that we violate people 's human rights for more oil . 
what a disgrace it is that we are not taking a new direction , not just to save the planet , but to save democracy . 
vote down the bill . 
public citizen , washington , dc , october 5 , 2005 . 
dear representative : on friday , october 7 the house will consider h.r. 3893 , the `` gasoline for america 's security ( gas ) act of 2005. '' this bill takes the approach that environmental laws must be weakened in order to encourage the u.s. refining industry to expand or construct new refining capacity . 
this is false . 
the facts clearly show that not only are current environmental laws in place at a time when the refining industry is experiencing record profits , but that recent , fundamental changes to the refining industry -- namely recent mergers -- have created financial incentives for refineries to encourage tight supplies . 
until these market fundamentals -- and not environmental rules -- are corrected , americans will continue to be price-gouged by oil companies . 
this week , the national average gasoline price hit $ 2.93/gallon , up 50 percent from a year ago . 
these prices were well on their way to hitting record highs long before hurricane katrina . 
oil and gasoline prices were rising long before hurricane katrina wreaked havoc . 
u.s. gasoline prices jumped 14 percent from july 25 to august 22 . 
the problem is that too few oil companies control too much of the refineries , squelching competition but guaranteeing record profits for the industry . 
in 1993 , the 5 largest u.s. oil refining companies controlled 34.5 percent of domestic oil refinery capacity ; the top 10 companies controlled 55.6 percent . 
by 2004 , the top 5 -- conocophillips , valero , exxonmobil , shell and bp -- controlled 56.3 percent and the top 10 refiners controlled 83 percent . 
as a result of all of these recent mergers , the largest 5 oil refiners today control more capacity than the largest 10 did a decade ago . 
this dramatic increase in the control of just the top 5 companies makes it easier for oil companies to manipulate gasoline prices . 
the proof is in the numbers . 
according to the energy information administration , profit margins for u.s. oil refiners have been at record highs . 
in 1999 , u.s. oil refiners made 22.8 cents for every gallon of gasoline refined from crude oil . 
by 2004 , they were making 40.8 cents for every gallon of gasoline refined , a 79 percent jump . 
and the washington post noted that those profit margins have soared even higher in 2005 , to 99 cents on each gallon sold , for a more than 300 percent increase since 1999 . 
it is no coincidence that oil corporation profits -- including refining -- are enjoying record highs . 
since 2001 , the largest 5 oil refiners in america have recorded $ 228 billion in profits . 
and will the environmental regulations make it easier to build new refineries ? 
no , because the financial structure of the refining industry is what is prohibiting additional investment . 
that 's because the industry is making record profits off of the current tight supplies . 
they have no interest in creating surplus capacity because that will erode their profit margins . 
want proof ? 
start with the u.s. federal trade commission . 
in march 2001 , ftc concluded in its midwest gasoline price investigation : `` ... .. 
a significant part of the supply reduction was caused by the investment decisions of three firms ... .. 
one firm increased its summer-grade rfg [ reformulated gasoline ] production substantially and , as a result , had excess supplies of rfg available and had additional capacity to produce more rfg at the time of the price spike . 
this firm did sell off some inventoried rfg , but it limited its response because selling extra supply would have pushed down prices and thereby reduced the profitability of its existing rfg sales . 
an executive of this company made clear that he would rather sell less gasoline and earn a higher margin on each gallon sold than sell more gasoline and earn a lower margin . 
another employee of this firm raised concerns about oversupplying the market and thereby reducing the high market prices . 
so , that settles it : u.s. oil refineries would rather sell less gasoline and earn bigger profits than flood the market and earn lower profit margins . 
so gutting environmental laws , as h.r. 3893 proposes , will do nothing to expand refining capacity , but it will reduce public health protections for americans . 
and a may 2004 u.s. government accountability office report agreed with public citizen that recent mergers in the oil industry have directly led to higher prices . 
it is important to note , however , that this gao report severely underestimates the impact mergers have on prices because their price analysis stops in 2000 -- long before the mergers that created chevrontexaco , conocophillips , and valero-ultramar/diamond shamrock-premcor . 
rolling back environmental laws will do nothing to lower prices , but it will weaken public health protections for americans . 
sincerely , tyson slocum , 