Oil executives defend against accusations of price gouging at House panel hearing

Oil executives defend against accusations¹ of price gouging² at House panel hearing

Transcript³

Profits are rising for oil companies. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Democratic Rep. Lori Trahan of Massachusetts about accusations that those firms are price gouging and profiting from the Ukraine war.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Who is really responsible for the spike⁴ in gas prices? Democrats⁵ in Congress summoned the CEOs from ExxonMobil, Chevron⁶ and other firms, and Representative Lori Trahan of Massachusetts, among others, told them off.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LORI TRAHAN: Each of you have been crystal clear in public statements in the past month that Putin's invasion has been great for your bottom line. Not only have each of you taken advantage of this war and the crisis that it has produced to return even more profit to shareholders⁷, but it also appears that at least five top oil executives have cashed out some $99 million worth of stock personally since the invasion began.

INSKEEP: Ouch. Representative Trahan is on the line. Good morning.

TRAHAN: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: So were you satisfied with the response from the oil companies at this hearing, where they essentially⁸ said, we're not price gouging - this is just a market?

TRAHAN: Well, I think the truth will be in their actions, right? We've heard a lot of commitments to increasing oil supply, but we'll see. I mean, look; yesterday's hearing was an opportunity for the leaders of some of America's largest oil companies to explain to the American people why, despite the price of oil starting to come down, their home heating bills and their gas prices aren't following suit. And we did hear a lot of lip service from those CEOs during the hearing about how they aren't responsible for gas prices. But what they conveniently left out of those responses is how much they've been touting⁹ those prices to their shareholders, and that's because they're making a lot of money, record-setting profits in some cases. And, you know, hardworking Americans here in Massachusetts and across our country are paying the price.

INSKEEP: Granted that they're making a lot of money now, there have been other periods, like the beginning of the pandemic, when they've made very little. Is this not a global market that individual companies do not really control?

TRAHAN: Absolutely. You know, there are a lot of inputs¹⁰ into gas prices. But I'll just point to the fact that the companies that testified before the committee yesterday, they netted over $76 billion in profits last year. And many of these same CEOs bragged¹¹ to their boards and their investors¹² about their stock buybacks that were designed to pump up their share price. You know, meanwhile, executives themselves are collecting 10, 15 or even $30 million a year in base salary while trading their stocks on the side to give them $1 million boost here and there. And that's a slap in the face to every hardworking family I represent who's considering taking on a second or even third job to cover the hit they're taking at the pump. And it's something that these companies have the ability to change immediately.

INSKEEP: Can you help us think through some of the partisan¹³ labeling on this? As you know very well, Republicans have blamed the Biden administration for failing to approve more oil leases or drilling permits where leases already exist. I know the Biden administration did start off in its early month approving a lot of permits. That has now slowed down, although the administration claims companies are free to drill more if they want to right now. Do you believe that the federal government could do more to loosen supply of oil from federal lands?

TRAHAN: Well, I do believe that the permits that are already - have been approved, they need to be using those. I mean, we heard a lot of talking points from CEOs during yesterday's hearing, and rather than join us in exploring actual solutions to the energy issues folks are facing, I mean, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle¹⁴ chose to further politicize this hearing for their own gain. And that's extremely unhelpful. What's worse, they're totally buying the fact that these companies are saying they have 9,000 approved permits, permits that are ready to go, but that they need more. And it just sounds an awful lot like they're using this moment of crisis with the war in Ukraine and families still recovering from the pandemic to hold the American people hostage unless they get even more permits. And what we didn't hear from them yesterday was what that ransom¹⁵ request was. How many permits above the 9,000 they have right now would be enough? So it's a gross indictment¹⁶ of the oil industry's priorities, and the American people, I believe, can see right through it.

INSKEEP: Let's think through where the Biden administration is, though, in the situation that we're in. The U.S. is cutting off supplies of Russian oil. Europe is thinking about the same thing. Steps are being taken that would constrict¹⁷ supply. So you need to get more supplies from somewhere. I know that climate change is a huge priority for the president, but his approach has been, in 20 years, we need to be weaning ourselves from fossil fuels. We may need more fuels in the present time. So that leads to my question - can and should the United States government be doing more to encourage domestic oil production in the next, say, two, three years?

TRAHAN: Well, we're not going to get there - I am for energy independence. And I think the only way to truly achieve that without destroying our planet before our grandchildren can inherit it is by transitioning away from fossil fuels, especially ones that fuel the war machines of dictators like Vladimir Putin. But we are not going to get there overnight. And ramping¹⁸ up oil production in the short term is a necessary step to make sure we don't hurt working families' ability to recover from the pandemic and get back on their feet. But making strong investments in renewable energy resources is just - it's smart. It's cost effective because of the jobs it'll create and the savings¹⁹ that'll be passed along to every family. And it's just the right thing to do to preserve our planet for our children and our grandchildren. And I think the president has laid out as such what our short-term and our long-term solutions must be as we go through this inflection point.

INSKEEP: Representative Trahan, it's a pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much.

TRAHAN: Thank you.

INSKEEP: Lori Trahan of Massachusetts.

1 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

2 gouging   

n.刨削[槽]v.凿( gouge的现在分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出…

参考例句：

• Banks and credit-card companies have been accused of gouging their customers. 银行和信用卡公司被指控欺诈顾客。 来自辞典例句
• If back-gouging is applied, grinding to bright metal is required. 如果采用火焰气刨，则应将其打磨至可见光亮的金属表面。 来自互联网

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 chevron   

n.V形臂章；V形图案

参考例句：

• He wore shoulderstrap rank slides with sergeant's chevrons.他佩戴标示级别的肩章，上面有中士的V形标志。
• The chevron or arrow road sign indicates a sharp bend to the left or right.V形或箭头路标表示有向左或向右的急转弯。

7 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 touting   

v.兜售( tout的现在分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• He's been touting his novel around publishers for years. 他几年来一直到处找出版商兜售自己的小说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Technology industry leaders are touting cars as a hot area for growth. 科技产业领袖吹捧为增长热点地区的汽车。 来自互联网

10 inputs   

n.输入( input的名词复数 )；投入；输入端；输入的数据v.把…输入电脑( input的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Uncheck the inputs checked for optimization in the previous stage. 不测试那些已经测试过的优化了的以前步骤的inputs.（变量参数）。 来自互联网
• Just in case, save in a file the inputs obtained at the previous stage. 以防万一，保存以前步骤获得的inputs（变量参数值）到一个文件中去。 来自互联网

11 bragged   

v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He bragged to his friends about the crime. 他向朋友炫耀他的罪行。
• Mary bragged that she could run faster than Jack. 玛丽夸口说她比杰克跑得快。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

13 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

14 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

15 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

16 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

17 constrict   

v.压缩，收缩，阻塞

参考例句：

• Men and women alike have been constricted by traditional sexual roles.男性和女性同样受到传统性别角色的束缚。
• Severe migraine can be treated with a drug which constricts the blood vessels.严重的偏头疼可以用一种收缩血管的药物进行治疗。

18 ramping   

土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• The children love ramping about in the garden. 孩子们喜欢在花园里追逐嬉戏，闹着玩。
• Have you ever seen a lion ramping around? 你看到过狮子暴跳吗？

19 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。