Oil Change International Responds to New Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Bill in U.S. Congress

Today, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna and U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeff Merkley, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Richard Blumenthal, Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, Jack Reed, Ed Markey, Cory Booker, Michael Bennet, and Bob Casey introduced the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax, a bill that would apply a windfall profits tax to oil companies and use the profits to send money to Americans to help offset high energy prices.

Under the bill, large oil companies that produce or import at least 300,000 barrels of oil per day would owe a per-barrel tax equal to 50% of the difference between the current price of a barrel of oil and the pre-pandemic average price per barrel from 2015-2019. The quarterly tax would apply to both domestically produced and imported barrels of oil.

In response, Oil Change International U.S. Program Director Collin Rees released the following statement:

"The so-called 'solutions' to the energy crisis being put forward by Big Oil companies and the American Petroleum Instite would do nothing but further line their own pockets and lock in a climate-wrecking, fossil-fueled future. What's needed now is immediate relief for American consumers, which is what this commonsense windfall profits tax bill would provide.

"With sky-high energy prices, it's mind-boggling to allow the fossil fuel industry to rake in record profits at the expense of working families. We appreciate the leadership of Rep. Khanna and Sen. Whitehouse in confronting Big Oil's greed and standing with the American people suffering from price spikes.

"Rather than give into Big Oil's demands for even more subsidies and even more drilling despite record profits, we much address high energy prices while ramping up investment in renewable energy technologies that can unhook our economy from the volatility and conflict of oil, gas, and coal. This is a key opportunity to end the fossil fuel era once and for all."