Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Ross speaks out against fuel prices

WASHINGTON D.C.  U.S. Representative Mike Ross (AR-04) Monday told a panel of his Congressional colleagues that record-high gas and diesel fuel prices are taking a toll on all sectors of our economy.

Ross, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced Arkansan Steve Williams, Chairman and CEO of Maverick USA, Inc., which operates the second largest company-owned flatbed truck fleet in the United States, at a hearing before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The hearing was entitled, Energy Speculation: Is Greater Regulation Necessary to Stop Price Manipulation?

Steve Williams understands all too well the dramatic toll that rising oil and diesel prices are having on the economy as a whole, and the tucking industry in particular, Ross said. Approximately four million people are employed by trucking companies, of which 95 percent are small family owned businesses. Unfortunately, many of these businesses have fallen victim to the exorbitant cost of diesel fuel and have already closed down, or dramatically scaled back their operations as a result.

Ross noted at the hearing that over the past year, the price of crude oil has increased by 98 percent from $68 to $134 a barrel. These recent spikes in prices have placed tremendous economic pressure on the trucking, freight, agriculture, and business community whose livelihood is vulnerable to the volatility of diesel prices.

I am proud to have secured this vital hearing that will help to determine the causes of the recent spike in oil and diesel costs that are hurting working families, farmers and businesses, Ross said. Americans are paying the price for a failed energy policy and we must determine what actions Congress can take to help bring down the price at the pump.

Ross requested and successfully secured the hearing through letters earlier this year to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee John Dingell, and Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Bart Stupak.