Washington Petroleum & Heating Oil Dealers Mobilize for Lower Prices

May 29, 2008 (Seattle, WA) – The Washington Oil Marketers Association (WOMA) announced today that they are joining the Energy Marketers Association (EMA) in a nationwide campaign to lower oil prices by tightening a loophole in commodities regulation that allows speculative oil traders to operate beyond the reach of federal oversight.

"The data conclusively shows that the dramatic escalation in oil prices has more to do with speculators than physical supply and demand issues," said Gerry Ramm, a senior executive of Inland Oil Co. in Ephrata, Washington and 2008 Treasurer of EMC. "There is a loophole in American energy regulation that permits oil speculators to use foreign commodities exchanges to drive prices far above what they should be in a normal, free-market situation. We are suggesting that Washingtonians ask their congressional representatives to close this foreign-market loophole."

This is not a new problem. On July 12, 2007, Craig Eerkes, president of Sun Pacific Energy in Kennewick, WA and the 2007 Chairman of EMA, testified before a United States House of Representatives Subcommittee that oil speculators are boosting the price of oil on unregulated foreign commodities exchanges. Gerry Ramm testified before the same committee on May 15, 2008 explaining how the InterContinental Exchange (ICE), which is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, allows trading of U.S. energy commodities through an exchange located in London, thereby circumventing U.S. oversights. On June 3, upon the invitation of United States Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), Ramm will return to Washington, D.C. to testify about oil speculation before the Senate Commerce Committee.

WOMA and EMA members from across the country have created a website, www.stopoilspeculators.com, to help consumers learn how oil speculators are driving up gas and heating oil prices. In addition, WOMA members will distribute pamphlets at gas stations and insert them into heating oil bills throughout Washington to provide consumers with information ab