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   Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. JEFFORDS, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. MOYNIHAN, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEAHY, and Mr. DODD) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources:

   S. Con. Res. 88

   Whereas the price of crude oil has more than doubled in the past year to over $30 per barrel, and prices of petroleum products such as heating oil, diesel fuel, and gasoline have reached record levels;

   Whereas a sharp sustained increase in the price of crude oil negatively affects the overall economic well-being of the United States;

   Whereas high oil prices harm people and businesses;

   Whereas the Energy Information Administration has determined that Northeastern United States fuel reserves are the lowest in 20 years and that Americans are ``skating on thin ice'' in meeting energy requirements;

   Whereas the current price and supply crisis was largely created through the actions of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (``OPEC'') by market-distorting and collusive production reductions, and OPEC's activities would be in violation of United States antitrust laws if conducted within the United States;

   Whereas OPEC has demonstrated unity not seen since the energy crises of the 1970's;

   Whereas the United States has a Strategic Petroleum Reserve of over 570,000,000 barrels of crude oil to protect against threats to oil supplies;

   Whereas many experts, trade associations, and members of Congress have called for a drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to combat OPEC's market distorting behavior;

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   Whereas a drawdown or the threat of a drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve could provide a critical tool to break the resolve of OPEC to practice market distorting behavior, and a sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would increase domestic supplies and drive down prices in the short term;

   Whereas swaps from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve offer a way to increase the overall size of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at no cost to the taxpayer; and

   Whereas low global inventories allow OPEC to retain inordinate control over supply and pricing, and consequently undue influence over the global economy: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),

   SECTION 1. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--

    (1) using authority under existing law, directly through time exchanges (or ``swaps'') or through other means, the President and the Secretary of Energy should draw down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an economically feasible manner and to a responsible degree, to combat unfair foreign trade practices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and alleviate the severely deleterious consequences to people and businesses in the United States that those practices have caused; and

    (2) the President and the Secretary of Energy should prepare for future threats to the economy and energy supply of the United States by developing methods to--

    (A) draw down the Strategic Petroleum Reserve quickly when needed; and

    (B) increase the quantity of crude oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over time in an economically reasonable manner.

   Mr. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague, Senator SCHUMER, to submit a senate concurrent resolution expressing the Sense of the Congress that the Administration should act immediately to combat the anticompetitive campaign OPEC has waged on the world's oil markets. Through this resolution, we call upon the President and the Secretary of Energy to defend America's interests through the immediate release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. We are pleased to be joined by Senators JEFFORDS, SNOWE, LIEBERMAN, MOYNIHAN, LEVIN, LEAHY, and DODD who are original cosponsors of this important legislation. We are also pleased to have the strong support of the American Trucking Association which represents 9.6 million people employed in the American trucking industry and their families. Perhaps no one has felt the pain for soaring oil prices more then they.

   Today we ask the Administration to combat the unfair and anticompetitive practices of OPEC, and to ease the pain this cartel has inflicted--and will continue to inflict--on the people and businesses of the Northeast, the Midwest, and throughout America.

   Last fall, Senator SCHUMER and I began cautioning the Administration about OPEC's production squeeze and the impact the cartel would have on our economy. At that time oil prices were rising, and U.S. inventories were falling. Throughout the winter, Mainers, New Yorkers, and all Americans who heat with oil have suffered from the highest distillate prices in a decade. The entire nation has suffered--and will continue to suffer--through increased gasoline and diesel fuel costs.

   One year ago, the average retail price of a gallon of diesel fuel was 95.6 cents. Today, prices across the nation have skyrocketed. In my home state, diesel costs range from $1.60 in Bangor to $1.90 in Biddeford.

   This jump in prices deeply harms truckers and, by extension, all American consumers and businesses. The trucking industry consumes nearly 30 billion of gallons of diesel fuel a year. At today's prices, that means truckers across the nation must shoulder $15 billion more in fuel costs this year, compared to last.

   I have heard from small Maine trucking companies that are in dire straits. One owner of a trucking company in Ellsworth, Maine tells me that, due to particularly high fuel costs, many independent truckers she contracts with may not be able to stay in business. She says that owner-operators and small trucking companies cannot withstand the exorbitant price of diesel fuel for much longer and warns that immediate action is necessary. Potato farmers in northern Maine tell me they are having difficulty shipping their crop to market because the high cost of diesel has made it economically unfeasible to come to Aroostock County.

   I was struck by a sign I saw on a rig two weeks ago when truckers converged upon Washington, demanding action from our government--it read: ``if you eat it, drink or wear it, it probably got to you by truck.'' This catchy slogan underscores the importance of trucking to our country and our way of life.

   But everyone shares in the pain inflicted by OPEC. Yesterday, a barrel of crude oil closed at $30.43, a one hundred-fifty percent increase from one year ago. These high crude prices hurt all Americans--at the pump, on the farm, in the supermarket, at the airline ticket counter, and at home during cold winter nights.

   OPEC member-countries have colluded to take some 6% of the world's supply of oil off the markets in order to maximize profits. The strategy's is working--although OPEC countries sold 5% less oil in 1999, their profits were up 38%.

   OPEC's production squeeze has caused fuel reserves to shrink to historic lows. The Administrator of the Energy Information Administration--which is part of the Department of Energy--was quoted in The New York Times last week saying the fuel reserves in the Northeast were ``dangerously low,'' the lowest in 20 years, and that American's were ``skating on thin ice'' due to low fuel inventories. Indeed, we were told by the Energy Information Agency that distillate stocks in New England reached an all-time low last month.

   We have been disappointed that the Administration has failed to heed our call over the past several months. But even now, it is not too late. A release of oil from the SPR would have an immediate impact upon the price of oil and would help break OPEC's resolve to maintain an iron grip on our nation's supply.

   So today we offer a resolution calling upon the Administration to use the tools at its disposal to fight OPEC's unfair and dangerously harmful trade practices. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.

   Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, yesterday, crude prices closed just below $32 per barrel--the highest price since a brief spike during the Persian Gulf War. At this level, it is very likely that gas prices will reach $2 per gallon by Memorial Day.

   The price of oil has reached a point where it is no longer a nuisance, but a crisis for our economy. We have called on the President and the Secretary of Energy to release some of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in order to bring this price spike under control. And today, we are introducing a concurrent resolution to again request that the Administration use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bolster our rapidly dwindling oil inventories, stabilize prices, and to convince OPEC that America is ready to use leverage to protect our national economic interests.

   During the past two weeks, Secretary Richardson has met with OPEC ministers to encourage them to increase production. They discussed a 1 million barrel per day increase, but according to experts, that will still not be sufficient to meet America's demand. In fact, even if OPEC increased production to 3 million barrels per day by the 4th Quarter of 2000, the U.S. will still have $30 barrels next winter. This is because inventory levels of petroleum and petroleum products are at their lowest levels in more than 20 years. Gasoline inventories are down 15 percent from last year, and crude inventories are down 13 percent. Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development inventories are 99 million barrels below normal.

   Low inventories means that OPEC will continue to control global supply and demand. Even if OPEC increases production by a small amount, it will not be sufficient to prevent them from increasing prices at any moment. This, therefore, has become a matter of national security.

   The United States must use the SPR to prod OPEC to release significantly more oil. If the United States releases the reserve through swaps, other OPEC producers will realize that their stranglehold on the market is ending and will disregard their quotas, thereby releasing oil into market and forcing the price back down. That is the scenario OPEC fears the most and that is the card that we need to play to ensure a sufficient and timely increase in production. We have been warning since

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   Increased oil prices could severely affect the health of our economy. It has the potential to increase inflation. It will drain the budgets of working families. The price of shipping will increase. Oil prices at these levels will filter through every sector of our economy like a virus.

   The President and Secretary Richardson must act quickly to release oil from the SPR in order to counter OPEC's assault on the United States and the global economy.

END