Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran responds to a question during a roundtable discussion in Pima during a 2018 visit. This week O’Halleran spoke out against Big Oil.
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WASHINGTON D.C. – This week, Congressman Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01) spoke in a House Energy and Commerce Committee Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on the role of Big Oil companies in the rising costs of gas across America and solutions to bring down prices for hardworking families.
Witnesses for the hearing included leadership from bp America, Chevron, Devon Energy, ExxonMobil, Pioneer Natural Resources, and Shell.
“People are more focused on playing the blame game rather than identifying actions to lower gas and energy prices for Americans,” said O’Halleran during the hearing. “High gas prices have a severe impact on rural America. When energy prices go up, everything becomes more expensive. Families, farmers, ranchers, and rural Americans everywhere have to make hard decisions to cut costs elsewhere.
“Right now, we need companies to invest in lowering energy prices rather than padding their investors’ wallets. Congress is limited in how much it can affect oil prices set by global markets, but we can do something. We can work together, as we have done in the past, to overcome this.”
In February, O’Halleran introduced the Gas Prices Relief Act, legislation to suspend the federal gas tax through the end of the year, saving Arizonans money at the pump and lowering shipping costs across the board.
