Boehner aide: Dems using gas-price probe to ‘distract’ from US drilling

By Ben Geman - 04/22/11 11:09 AM ET

An aide to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) warned Friday that Democrats are using the federal probe of potential energy market abuses that President Obama unveiled yesterday to sap focus from expanding domestic energy production.

“We all want to ensure that such manipulation or fraud is not going on, but the concern is that the Democrats who run Washington are using this to distract from the real issue: the need to increase the supply of American energy to lower costs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create American jobs,” Michael Steel, Boehner’s spokesman, said in a statement.

Obama and the Justice Department on Thursday announced formation of a multi-agency working group that will probe whether there is manipulation, fraud or other illegal activities driving up prices at the pump.

The new Oil and Gas Price Fraud Working Group will also examine the role of speculators in energy markets.

But the new probe comes at a time when Boehner and many other Republicans are alleging that White House policies place too many restrictions on domestic energy production.

While Obama says he supports domestic drilling as part of a broader energy strategy, Republicans favor more aggressive policies.

A trio of GOP bills expected on the House floor next month will impose new deadlines for taking action on industry offshore drilling permits, and greatly expand the areas open for offshore development.

But the new multi-agency working group drew a cheer Thursday from a Democratic member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, one of the agencies that will participate.

Commissioner Bart Chilton, in applauding the effort, also made clear what he thinks a major focus should be.

“I remain convinced that excessive speculation is a part of the problem and should be part of the group’s focus, too. There are multi-agency issues in investigations that can benefit from the unwavering specificity of such a working group,” Chilton said in a statement.