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 , 