Paul Bass Photos
Palumbo crew prepares to transfer concrete from rail to truck.
DeLauro with concrete-hauling CEOs Dave Palumbo and Len Suzio Wednesday in the shadow of the Q Bridge.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro brought two concrete contractors before the cameras Wednesday afternoon to deliver an inflation message her fellow Democrats are scrambling to present in the final days of an election season.
The message: Greedy oil companies are destroying businesses — and their employees and customers — by gouging prices while enjoying record profits.
Palumbo Trucking CEO Dave Palumbo and L. Suzio York Hill Companies President Len Suzio helped DeLauro deliver that message at a press conference held in the Palumbo rail terminal at 4 Forbes Ave.
They endorsed DeLauro’s call for passing a Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act she cosponsored as well as a Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act to give government tools to rein in corporate profits and price hikes. (Click on the links to read more about the bills.)
Click on the video to watch Wednesday's press conference.
“Working Americans are facing sticker shock” while “companies like Shell doubled their profits and [diverted] billions in stock buy backs” while jacking up gas prices, DeLauro stated. She accused oil companies of “padding the pockets of their executives and shareholders” while “artificially keeping prices high.” She noted that the top 25 oil and gas companies reaped a record $237 billion in profits in 2021 and are in line for even more in 2022; the top five have recorded 200 percent jumps in profits in the first quarter of 2022.
The average price of a gallon of diesel stood at $5.924 Wednesday compared to $3.688 a year ago, according to AAA.
The physical backdrop to the press conference was the Q Bridge towering over the rail yard. The metaphorical background was the last-minute pivot of Democratic candidates nationwide looking to reverse the trajectory of a Republican campaign freight train fueled by mass upset over inflation (especially gas prices) and crime. Top Democrats have openly criticized their party and colleagues for allowing Republicans to dominate that discussion rather than address inflation in particular head on.
DeLauro is not considered at danger of losing her seat in this year’s election. Like any incumbent looking to keep her job, she’s running hard nonetheless, with more public events scheduled than her three opponents combined. Wednesday’s press conference reflected one messaging approach Democrats have suggested for addressing inflation: Focus blame on corporate greed while highlighting pocketbook measures the Democrats have taken in Washington.
Republicans in turn have criticized the Democratic Biden administration for putting roadblocks in the way of permitting for fossil fuel companies looking to increase oil and gas production; and have run on cutting taxes to help Americans meet rising bills.
DeLauro was asked about those critiques at the press conference. She responded that oil companies “now have 25 million onshore acres under lease” but are choosing not to pump from 13.9 million of them in order to keep prices and profits high. “They have the permits to extract the oil. They refused to do it,” she said.
She said that she embraces tax cuts — the right kind of tax cuts that deliver help to Americans who need it most. She led the charge in 2021 to create a child tax cut credited with cutting poverty almost 50 percent and hunger by 26 percent in six months. That tax cut has expired. She called for extending and expanding it.
DeLauro also pointed to Congressional Democrats’ success in allowing the negotiation of prescription drug prices. As chair of the House Appropriations Committee, she said, she pushed to double from $550 million to $1 billion the funding this year of Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help families pay for home heating costs. Connecticut is receiving $86.4 million this winter from that fund.
Dave Palumbo: "I'm struggling."
David Palumbo started his family firm in the 1990s with one rented truck. Today he employs more than 50 people. Three times a day his crew loads concrete arriving by rail from Virginia and Maryland to trucks at his three yards (the New Haven one plus facilities in Wallingford and Middletown) and then drives the concrete to customers throughout the state as well as in Massachusetts and New York.
The truckers used to pick up the concrete down South and drive it back up here. Four years ago Palumbo switched to the rail deliveries so his drivers didn’t need to sleep in their trucks and in the broader quest to keep trucks off the road.
The cost of trucking the concrete once it arrives has become harder in the past year thanks to spiking diesel prices. His fuel bill has risen from around $22-$23,000 a week to $42 -$45,000 a week, he said.
“I’m struggling” to keep employees on the job with enough money to pay for their own gas to work, said Palumbo, who’s 57. And he’s had to pass higher diesel prices to his customers, which trickles down to prices consumers pay.
“We’re all paying for this: You, your kids, my employees” who “struggle to put food on the table” and heat their homes, Palumbo said. “Big oil companies are making record profits. Everybody has the right to earn profit. But not on the backs of hard-working Americans who are trying to keep thier country going and keep people going.”
Trucks lined up to receive concrete from rail cars.
One of DeLauro’s opponents in the Nov. 8 election, the Green Party’s Justin Paglino, argued in a separate Wednesday interview with the Independent that “we should be sharing current record oil company profits with the public, as they do in Alaska.”
“In September of this year, Alaska directly deposited over $3,000 into each of its residents’ bank accounts; a total of $1.6 Billion was distributed to Alaskans struggling to afford the rising prices of gas and other products (whose cost has also risen due to the increased price of oil),” Paglino stated. “Leaders in Washington should be immediately calling for us to implement this same program on a national scale, and it is a failure of leadership that they have not done this. A windfall tax by itself will not incentivize companies to lower prices, but a redistribution of the revenue directly to consumers would give Americans the relief from high prices that they need and deserve.”
“Today’s gas price crisis is a bit more complicated” than price-gouging, argued Independent Party candidate Amy Chai.
She faulted the Biden Administration for U.S. oil production falling amid a shutdown of oil refineries. And she said she doesn’t “trust DeLauro to use fresh sources of cash” from a windfall profits tax “in a responsible way.” “More taxes would simply add more pain to the consumer,” she added.
She called for the U.S. to pursue energy independence by “open[ing] refinery capacity right now.”
Republican candidate Lesley DeNardis, too, faulted the Biden administration for a “policy to block permits for drilling, close the gas pipeline, and a general hostility towards American oil production.” She credited rising costs as well to “massive federal spending.”
“The federal government should approve more oil permits and reopen the pipeline,” DeNardis stated, citing a projected spike of 30 percent this winter in home heating costs. “We can and must return to energy independence to help the American consumer and to decrease dependence on other countries for our supply.”
The political nonsense around oil and the price of gasoline/diesel/heating fuel is cruel and disgusting. Why? Because the scenario painted by DeLauro and her pals is either intentionally disinformation or woefully ignorant. According to a news report I saw this morning - 7 refineries have been shuttered in the last two years. Among them, several on the Gulf Coast due to hurricane damage; one in Philly I believe that was old, had maintenance issues and the cost of complying with new and growing regulations made it impossible to keep them online. What's that do? Squeeze supply. Short supply equals higher prices. The same is true for gasoline. No pipelines, onerous taxation on small producers effectively putting them out of business. To pretend that Rosa's legislation will move the price of gas at all is to send a false message to those she represents. This is all show and isn't worth a tinker's damn.