'Send Your Gasoline Bill to Congress' Campaign Launched by Consumer Watchdog

Group Offers Drivers Opportunity to Send 'Dose of Reality' to Lawmakers and
White House and Demand Action Now, Not Next Year

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog,
using an innovative Web-based form, today launched a nationwide campaign to
help drivers get the attention of Washington's elected officials, who rarely
have to use their own money at the gas pump. With gasoline prices at or within
a penny of their all-time highs, families are at the breaking point, while
elected officials are in a bubble until they hear from constituents.

A consumer letter, available online at OilWatchdog.org and
Consumerwatchdog.org, tells elected officials what each driver paid for the
last fill-up, the price per gallon paid, and the family's estimated monthly
fuel bill. It lets lawmakers and the White House know that $4.00 and $5.00
fuel prices are unbearable. It demands action right now, to control oil market
speculation and cut pump prices. Drivers can send Washington this dose of
reality just by filling in a simple form that tells elected officials what the
real cost of fuel is doing to individual American families.

(See the online letter below and at
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/energy/energyact2/)

"Drivers know instinctively that all the recent political talk about drilling
off the California coast and the Florida coast will line the pockets of oil
companies, trash our coastlines and have negligible effect on gasoline
prices," said Judy Dugan, research director of Consumer Watchdog. "What
drivers need is immediate relief, along with longer-term energy alternatives
to petroleum. Our elected officials rarely have to hand over $80 of their own
salaries at a gas station, and they need to hear from people feeling the pain
at the pump."

The nonprofit, nonpartisan Consumer Watchdog (formerly the Foundation for
Taxpayer and Consumer Rights) said that the most effective immediate actions
against oil and gasoline prices are:

Closing the Enron Loophole in commodity trading regulation. A regulatory
measure in the federal farm bill (S.2058 by Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Carl
Levin) would help stop speculative oil pricing. The huge omnibus bill was
returned to Congress to fix an error in the version that president Bush vetoed
last month. Now the repaired bill has to be passed by the House and Senate
again, Bush has vowed to veto it again, and then the House and Senate must
override the veto, wasting yet more time. (See more on Enron Loophole and farm
bill amendment at http://www.oilwatchdog.org/articles/?storyId=18735) (See why
the bill is not yet law at:
http://www.oilwatchdog.org/articles/?storyId=20650&topicId=8059)

Increase in margin funds that traders must put up in energy markets to help
suppress speculation. Currently, traders only have to put up 5% to 7% of the
worth of the purchase, instead of the 50% required on stock trading. This
makes it cheap to speculate.

Oversight of refinery operations, including regulation of national gasoline
supplies. In the last decade, the average on-hand supply of gasoline has
dropped from 30 days' worth to about 22 days. This makes prices increasingly
sensitive to any cuts in production. Only government regulation to control the
supply of gasoline, nationally and regionally, will keep supplies adequate to
control prices.

"The 'Send Your Gasoline Bill to Congress' campaign will let lawmakers know
that drivers aren't duped by doubletalk about 'market forces' or supply and
demand," said Dugan. "They won't be satisfied with declarations that there are
no short-term fixes for gasoline at over $4.00 and headed for $5.00. The
problem is a lack of political will to fix broken, uncompetitive markets, and
too many friends of oil in Washington."

Gasoline prices were above $4.07 a gallon on average nationally today, less
than a penny from the $4.08 record, and California's average was a new record,
$4.61, with some stations at or near $5.00.

The online letter, when sent to lawmakers, will look like this:

Dear (President Bush, Senator, Representative, by zip code):

Here's what I paid for my last fill-up: $85.62

This is where I bought it: Conoco Station, Mars

And this is my unbearable monthly fuel bill: $400

My family can't stand these outrageous gas prices much longer. We want you to
do something about it.

Please don't tell me you can't, or that it's the way the free market works.
You can regulate energy trading markets. You can regulate refineries, and
demand that they increase the fuel supply on hand. You can take back the
subsidies we taxpayers are giving to Exxon, Chevron and friends, then use
these billions to expand renewable energy, build the public transportation we
lack and cut our petroleum dependence.

You have to prove that you're listening to us, not the oil companies and the
hedge fund traders.

We have cut back on using gas, but can't put off buying it altogether, like we
can with a car or a new couch. Fuel is as necessary as electricity or running
water. We must have cleaner energy that we can afford.

Do something now. We can't wait until next year, or 10 years from now, for
affordable fuel or for real action against global warming.

Additional comments:

Sincerely,
Name, Address, Zip Code

For more information, see http://www.consumerwatchdog.org and
http://www.oilwatchdog.org.

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog

Judy Dugan, +1-310-392-0522, ext. 305, cell: +1-213-280-0175, or Jamie Court,
+1-310-392-0522, ext. 327, both of Consumer Watchdog