The House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday that could make the oil crisis more interesting. The news has not been encouraging with the price of oil futures rising to $130 a barrel.

The House of Representatives by a margin of 324-84 passed a bill that would allow the Justice Department to sue OPEC the same as it would a domestic business for anti trust violations. The thought here is that if the oil producing countries were not operating as one organization, there would be more competition between the countries and that would lead to lower prices.

Of course, we are dealing with foreign countries, so just how would a Justice Department decision against OPEC be enforced? The government would have to take action to size any property they own in the United States. The President does not support the measure and is sure to veto it. It is his belief that if we went after their property here, they would do the same to us in their countries.

However, the bill does have other provisions as well. It would also create a task force within the Justice Department whose job it would be to investigate charges of price gouging and manipulation of the energy markets. The Government Accountability Office would also have to investigate what effect, if any, past mergers of different oil companies may have had on the prices.

Whether or not the provisions against OPEC are ever used if the bill is passed, it does send a message that the country is taking the situation seriously and that we do intend to do something about it and not just going to sit and take it anymore.

There are other measures that we should be looking at very seriously such as releasing some of our own reserves of oil and looking into alternative energy sources. Even if by some miracle we are able to bring the price of oil down measurably, the U.S. will still be at the mercy of the oil producing countries. And with the technological expertise in the U.S. and with the ability to tap into alternative sources of energy, that is unacceptable.

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