WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo (both R-Idaho) joined 36 of their Senate Republican colleagues in calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to conduct a fair and unbiased review of recently announced oil and gas mergers after Senate Democrats requested the FTC investigate these major energy acquisitions by citing misleading and false allegations. Previously, Senate Democrats also urged the FTC to abuse its authority by arguing that such investigations must be used to stop these companies from discrediting “climate science,” “subverting our democratic processes,” and “frustrate self-governing” through more oil and gas production.
“On November 1, 2023, twenty-three Senate Democrats sent you a letter ‘urg[ing] you to Investigate’ the recently announced oil and gas mergers.’ We write to urge the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to follow the law and the facts in its review of the recently announced oil and gas industry mergers,” the Senators wrote. “As is the case with any merger review, including those in the industrial sector, mergers must be assessed under a fair and unbiased standard grounded in sound economics and law that protects American consumers, and does not impose policy preferences to further political ends."
“We respectfully request that the FTC conduct a fair and unbiased review of these mergers that is rooted in the facts, economic realities, and precedent,” the Senators concluded. “The oil and gas industry (like any other industry) should not be subject to unfair investigations or heightened antitrust scrutiny in order to further a political agenda that seeks the end of fossil fuel production. We expect the Commission to exercise its authorities with adherence to the rule of law and respect for due process, not partisan pressures and policy preferences.”
Crapo and Risch are joined in sending the letter by Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), John Boozman (R-Ark.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.).
Read the full text of the letter HERE.
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