Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and 22 Democratic senators urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to probe allegations of price-fixing in the oil and gas industry.
Democrats in the upper chamber, joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), requested Attorney General Merrick Garland to determine whether oil and gas firms illegally colluded to ensure high fuel costs, exacerbating inflation pressures in the U.S. economy.
The group of senators claimed that industry collusion might have resulted in a 49 percent decline in the domestic crude production growth rate. They estimate that this might have cost the average U.S. household up to $500 per car in increased yearly fuel costs, “an unwelcome tax that is particularly burdensome for lower-income families.”…
