PRINTER'S NO. 2867
No. 342 Session of 2000
INTRODUCED BY GEORGE, ROONEY, BELARDI, LESCOVITZ, DeWEESE,
SURRA, MUNDY, COY, GRUCELA, CASORIO, McCALL, YUDICHAK, CURRY,
MANN, CORRIGAN, LAUGHLIN, MELIO, STABACK, COLAFELLA,
TRAVAGLIO, SAINATO, TRELLO, KAISER, MARKOSEK, WALKO, LEDERER,
GRUITZA, VAN HORNE, SCRIMENTI, LEVDANSKY, MANDERINO,
MICHLOVIC, EACHUS, CLARK, HANNA AND BATTISTO,
JANUARY 26, 2000
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS,
JANUARY 26, 2000
A RESOLUTION
1 Memorializing the Congress of the United States to call upon its
2 investigative arm, the General Accounting Office, to conduct
3 a comprehensive investigation of whether the recent
4 substantial increases in fuel prices are the result of
5 legitimate market fluctuations.
6 WHEREAS, The price of a barrel of oil is $30, up from just
7 $11 per barrel in December 1998; and
8 WHEREAS, According to the Consumer Price Index, gasoline
9 prices rose by 76.4% in 1999 and by 8.5% in December 1999 alone;
10 and
11 WHEREAS, Gasoline pump prices at $1.29 per gallon are at
12 their highest levels in ten years; and
13 WHEREAS, Based on information from the Energy Information
14 Administration, diesel fuel prices in the central Atlantic
15 region averaged more than $1.38 per gallon the week of January
16 17, 2000, and heating oil prices averaged more than $1.10 per
1 gallon in Pennsylvania for the week ending January 17, 2000; and
2 WHEREAS, These record increases in oil prices, in some cases
3 surpassing those existing during the Persian Gulf War, will have
4 a direct, serious and substantial impact on both the
5 Pennsylvania and national economies; and
6 WHEREAS, These oil price hikes will result in potentially
7 devastating economic consequences for innumerable people
8 employed in the transportation industry in Pennsylvania,
9 including, among others, truckers, service station owners,
10 diesel truck stop and fleet center owners, heating oil retailers
11 and the airlines; and
12 WHEREAS, As a result, hundreds of thousands of homeowners
13 will see vast increases in their home heating costs; therefore
14 be it
15 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
16 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania memorialize the Congress of the
17 United States to call upon its investigative arm, the General
18 Accounting Office, to conduct a comprehensive investigation of
19 whether the recent substantial increases in fuel prices are the
20 result of legitimate market fluctuations or, at least in part,
21 the result of collusion or antitrust violations among and
22 between oil companies; and be it further
23 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
24 the presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each
25 member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
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