In his statement, Senator Obama explained:
For the past years, our energy policy in this country has been simply to let the special interests have their way—opening up loopholes for the oil companies and speculators so that they could reap record profits while the rest of us pay $4.00 a gallon. My plan fully closes the Enron Loophole and restores common-sense regulation as part of my broader plan to ease the burden for struggling families today while investing in a better future.
The “Enron Loophole” was slipped into law by Senator Phil Gramm in late 2000 at the behest of Enron lobbyists to exempt some energy traders from the regulations and public protections applicable to exchange-traded commodities. As a result, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is unable to fully oversee the oil futures market and investigate cases where excessive speculation may be driving up oil prices. Many economists believe that the speculation could be adding between $20 and $50 to the price of every barrel of oil.
A vibrant oil futures market can help producers and buyers hedge against swings in the price of oil, but an absence of common sense rules allows a few energy lobbyists and speculators to undermine the public confidence in the integrity of the market. It's another example of the special interest politics that put the interests of Big Oil and speculators ahead of the interests of working people. Today, Barack called for stepped-up oversight of energy markets to help stabilize oil prices and ease the burden of high energy prices for American families.
taken from Obama's site
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