Byron Dorgan: “I spent part of this morning visiting with some experts about the issue of energy speculation and the price of gasoline.…”

“I spent part of this morning visiting with some experts about the issue of energy speculation and the price of gasoline. I am very concerned about the price of gasoline. I come from a State that not only produces a lot of energy but uses a lot of petroleum products. We are a farm State and a big State with a sparse population. North Dakota is spread over the equivalent of 10 Massachusettses in landmass. We use a lot of energy per capita. When the price does what it has been doing recently, it is very harmful to a rural State that does a lot of family farming and requires people to travel a lot because of its sheer size. Here is what happened to oil prices in the last year: They have doubled. There is no justification for that--none. There is no justification for this at all. Get this, crude oil futures hit a record $139 per barrel today. I used to teach a little economics in college--not in a serious way. I taught the supply and demand intersection and what happens to price. I understand all that. If we take a look at supply and demand, there is nothing that justifies what is happening in the futures market with respect to oil prices.”