API Statement on Senate Climate Hearings

Robert Dodge | 202-682-8127 | dodger@api.org

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2009 - The American Petroleum Institute issued a statement today from President Jack Gerard on the Senate’s hearings on climate legislation:

“With two separate hearings today, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is taking an important look at how climate change legislation would affect industries that depend heavily on fuels. The hearings provide a desperately needed forum to discuss fuels during the Senate’s debate on climate legislation. According to a study by the Heritage Foundation, the House climate bill would result in a 58 percent increase in gasoline prices - pushing them to about $4 a gallon at today’s prices. The same study found a typical American family of four would see its direct energy costs rise by more than $1,500 a year. Every product consumers use and every food they eat is transported from factories and farms to American households - and misguided efforts to address climate change would significantly raise costs to consumers and businesses that depend on cars, trucks, trains, tractors and airplanes. According to the American Trucking Associations, trucks deliver 70 percent of all freight tonnage and 80 percent of all U.S. communities receive their goods exclusively by truck.”