II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4217 

To ensure transparent and competitive transportation fuel markets in order 

to protect consumers from unwarranted price increases. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 12, 2022 

Ms. CANTWELL (for herself, Mr. WYDEN, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To ensure transparent and competitive transportation fuel 

markets in order to protect consumers from unwarranted 

price increases. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transportation Fuel 

5 Market Transparency Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE PROHIBITIONS ON MARKET 

2 MANIPULATION AND FALSE INFORMATION 

3 PROVISIONS OF THE ENERGY INDEPEND4 ENCE AND SECURITY ACT OF 2007. 

5 (a) APPLICATION TO TRANSPORTATION FUEL.—Sub6 title B of title VIII of the Energy Independence and Secu7 rity Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17301 et seq.) is amended— 

8 (1) in section 811, by striking ‘‘gasoline or pe9 troleum distillates’’ and inserting ‘‘or transportation 

10 fuel’’; 

11 (2) in section 812— 

12 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

13 by striking ‘‘gasoline or petroleum distillates’’ 

14 and inserting ‘‘or transportation fuel’’; and 

15 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘, gaso16 line, or petroleum distillates’’ and inserting ‘‘or 

17 transportation fuel’’; and 

18 (3) by adding at the end the following new sec19 tion: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 816. DEFINITION OF TRANSPORTATION FUEL. 

21 ‘‘In this subtitle, the term ‘transportation fuel’ in22 cludes gasoline, distillate fuels (including heating oil), jet 

23 fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel (including ethanol, bio24 mass-based diesel and distillates, and renewable blending 

25 components).’’. 


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1 (b) PROHIBITION ON FALSE INFORMATION.—Section 

2 812 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 

3 (42 U.S.C. 17302) is amended— 

4 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘wholesale’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘supply of, operational actions related to, out7 put related to, or wholesale’’; and 

8 (B) by striking ‘‘to a Federal department 

9 or agency’’; 

10 (2) in paragraph (1), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 

11 end; 

12 (3) by striking paragraph (2) and redesignating 

13 paragraph (3), as amended by subsection (a), as 

14 paragraph (2); and 

15 (4) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated, by 

16 striking ‘‘the person intended the false or misleading 

17 data to affect data compiled by the department or 

18 agency’’ and inserting ‘‘the false or misleading infor19 mation reported by the person affected analyses or 

20 data compiled by a Federal department or agency or 

21 a private sector price-reporting agency’’. 

22 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 813(a) of the Energy 

23 Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 

24 17303(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘This subtitle’’ and inVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 17, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4217.IS S4217

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1 serting ‘‘Except as otherwise provided in section 814, this 

2 subtitle’’. 

3 (d) PENALTIES.—Section 814 of the Energy Inde4 pendence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17304) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘$1,000,000’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘$2,000,000’’; and 

8 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘section 5 of 

9 the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45)’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘section 5(m)(1)(A) of the Federal 

11 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(m)(1)(A))’’. 

12 SEC. 3. TRANSPORTATION FUEL MONITORING AND EN13 FORCEMENT WITHIN THE FEDERAL TRADE 

14 COMMISSION. 

15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRANSPORTATION

16 FUEL MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT UNIT.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall estab18 lish within the Commission the Transportation Fuel 

19 Monitoring and Enforcement Unit (in this section 

20 referred to as the ‘‘Unit’’). 

21 (2) DUTIES OF THE UNIT.— 

22 (A) PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY.—The pri23 mary responsibility of the Unit shall be to assist 

24 the Commission in protecting the public interest 

25 by continuously and comprehensively collecting, 


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1 monitoring, and analyzing crude oil and trans2 portation fuel market data in order to— 

3 (i) support transparent and competi4 tive market practices; 

5 (ii) identify any market manipulation, 

6 reporting of false information, use of mar7 ket power to disadvantage consumers, or 

8 other unfair method of competition; and 

9 (iii) facilitate enforcement of penalties 

10 against persons in violation of relevant 

11 statutory prohibitions. 

12 (B) SPECIFIC DUTIES.—In order to carry 

13 out the responsibility under subparagraph (A), 

14 the Unit shall assist the Commission in car15 rying out the following duties: 

16 (i) Receiving, compiling, and ana17 lyzing relevant buying and selling activity 

18 in order to identify and investigate anoma19 lous market trends and suspicious behav20 ior. 

21 (ii) Determining whether excessive 

22 concentration or exclusive control of en23 ergy-related infrastructure may allow or 

24 result in anti-competitive behaviors. 


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1 (iii) Gathering evidence of wrongdoing 

2 against any person in violation of the stat3 utory prohibitions on market manipulation 

4 and false information established in, and 

5 consistent with, subtitle B of title VIII of 

6 the Energy Independence and Security Act 

7 of 2007, as amended by section 2, or any 

8 other applicable provisions of the Federal 

9 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45 et 

10 seq.). 

11 (iv) Obtaining a data-sharing agree12 ment with the Energy Information Admin13 istration that includes the data collected in 

14 accordance with section 205(n) of the De15 partment of Energy Organization Act (42 

16 U.S.C. 7135), as amended by section 4. 

17 (v) Obtaining data-sharing agree18 ments with the Commodities Futures 

19 Trading Commission, the Federal Energy 

20 Regulatory Commission, and as necessary 

21 and practicable, State energy offices or 

22 commissions, and relevant public and pri23 vate data sources that will allow the Com24 mission to receive and archive information 

25 on— 


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1 (I) crude oil and transportation 

2 fuel buying and selling activity; 

3 (II) individual physical and fi4 nancial market positions of market 

5 participants regarding crude oil and 

6 transportation fuel; 

7 (III) refinery output, capacity, 

8 and inventory levels of crude oil and 

9 transportation fuel; 

10 (IV) imports and exports of 

11 crude oil and transportation fuel with12 in regions and at levels that could im13 pact prices faced by consumers; 

14 (V) public announcements by en15 ergy companies of planned pricing or 

16 output decisions regarding crude oil 

17 and transportation fuel; and 

18 (VI) other relevant market infor19 mation that will facilitate the gath20 ering of evidence described in clause 

21 (iii), including sufficient market infor22 mation necessary to monitor for cross23 market manipulations that may in24 clude multiple financial and physical 

25 market positions. 


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1 (vi) Any other information determined 

2 appropriate by the Commission to carry 

3 out the responsibility under subparagraph 

4 (A). 

5 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) COMMISSION.—Other than in subsection 

7 (a)(2)(B)(v), the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the 

8 Federal Trade Commission. 

9 (2) TRANSPORTATION FUEL.—The term ‘‘trans10 portation fuel’’ includes gasoline, distillate fuels (in11 cluding heating oil), jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and 

12 biofuel (including ethanol, biomass-based diesel and 

13 distillates, and renewable blending components). 

14 (c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after the 

15 date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall pro16 mulgate regulations to carry out this section. 

17 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

18 authorized to be appropriated to the Commission such 

19 sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2022 

20 through 2027 to carry out this section. 

21 SEC. 4. TRANSPORTATION FUEL MARKET TRANSPARENCY. 

22 Section 205 of the Department of Energy Organiza23 tion Act (42 U.S.C. 7135) is amended by adding at the 

24 end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(n) TRANSPORTATION FUEL MARKET TRANS2 PARENCY.— 

3 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

4 ‘‘(A) ENERGY COMPANY.—The term ‘en5 ergy company’ means a person (as defined in 

6 section 11(e) of the Energy Supply and Envi7 ronmental Coordination Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 

8 796(e))) that— 

9 ‘‘(i) owns or controls commercial 

10 amounts of crude oil or transportation 

11 fuel; or 

12 ‘‘(ii) is engaged in— 

13 ‘‘(I) exploration for, or develop14 ment of, crude oil; 

15 ‘‘(II) extraction of crude oil; 

16 ‘‘(III) refining or otherwise proc17 essing crude oil or transportation fuel; 

18 ‘‘(IV) commercial storage of 

19 crude oil or transportation fuel; 

20 ‘‘(V) transportation by any 

21 means of commercial amounts of 

22 crude oil or transportation fuel; or 

23 ‘‘(VI) wholesale or retail distribu24 tion of crude oil or transportation 

25 fuel. 


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1 ‘‘(B) TRANSPORTATION FUEL.—The term 

2 ‘transportation fuel’ means— 

3 ‘‘(i) gasoline; 

4 ‘‘(ii) distillate fuels, including heating 

5 oil; 

6 ‘‘(iii) jet fuel; 

7 ‘‘(iv) aviation gasoline; and 

8 ‘‘(v) biofuel, including ethanol, bio9 mass-based diesel and distillates, and re10 newable blending components. 

11 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection 

12 is to collect data necessary to facilitate transparent 

13 and competitive transportation fuel markets, deter14 mine adherence to relevant international sanctions, 

15 and protect consumers. 

16 ‘‘(3) SURVEYS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

18 shall conduct surveys of energy companies to 

19 collect detailed and timely information on 

20 United States crude oil and transportation fuel 

21 markets. 

22 ‘‘(B) EXEMPTION.—The Administrator 

23 shall exempt an energy company from partici24 pating in the surveys conducted under subpara25 graph (A) if the energy company has a de miniVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 17, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4217.IS S4217

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1 mis market presence or impact, as determined 

2 by the Administrator. 

3 ‘‘(4) DATA COLLECTED.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The surveys con5 ducted under paragraph (3) shall collect infor6 mation on a national, regional, State, and en7 ergy company basis. 

8 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION.—The surveys con9 ducted under paragraph (3) shall collect the fol10 lowing information with respect to crude oil and 

11 transportation fuel, as applicable: 

12 ‘‘(i) The quantity of crude oil and 

13 transportation fuel imported and exported. 

14 ‘‘(ii) The quantity of crude oil and 

15 transportation fuel refined, stored, and 

16 transported. 

17 ‘‘(iii) The quantity of crude oil and 

18 transportation fuel entering final retail and 

19 commercial commerce. 

20 ‘‘(iv) The quantity of crude oil and 

21 transportation fuel purchased and sold at 

22 any upstream point between energy compa23 nies, including off-exchange bilateral sales 

24 and sales between subsidiaries of the same 

25 energy company. 


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1 ‘‘(v) Market price data for the trans2 actions described in clauses (i) through 

3 (iv). 

4 ‘‘(vi) Submissions to relevant price re5 porting entities. 

6 ‘‘(vii) Any other such data, analyses, 

7 or evaluations that the Administrator de8 termines is necessary to achieve the pur9 pose described in paragraph (2). 

10 ‘‘(C) ORIGIN OF FUEL.—In obtaining the 

11 information described in subparagraph (B), the 

12 Administrator shall, to the maximum extent 

13 practicable, track and publish the country of 

14 original production of crude oil and transpor15 tation fuel that may have been resold, refined, 

16 blended, stored, or otherwise been exchanged or 

17 sold before being imported or exported into the 

18 United States. 

19 ‘‘(D) OTHER SOURCES.—The Adminis20 trator may, when practicable and determined 

21 reliable by the Administrator, obtain informa22 tion described in subparagraph (B) from pri23 vate price publishers and providers of trade 

24 processing services. 


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1 ‘‘(5) MINIMIZING REPORTING BURDENS.—The 

2 Administrator shall seek to minimize any burdens on 

3 energy companies in reporting information to the 

4 Administrator, including by automating data sub5 mission practices for data collected under the sur6 veys conducted under paragraph (3). 

7 ‘‘(6) PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To the maximum ex9 tent practicable, subject to this paragraph, the 

10 Administrator shall consistently and promptly 

11 make publicly available analyses of the results 

12 of the data collected pursuant to this subsection 

13 in a form and manner easily adaptable for pub14 lic use and machine analysis. 

15 ‘‘(B) GEOGRAPHICAL SPECIFICITY.—Anal16 yses published under subparagraph (A)— 

17 ‘‘(i) shall be geographically specific 

18 enough to provide meaningful differentia19 tion between fuel markets; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) shall not organize geographical 

21 data in the form of Petroleum Administra22 tion for Defense Districts or other geo23 graphic aggregations lacking sufficient res24 olution to ascertain regionally specific mar25 ket trends or disparities. 


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1 ‘‘(C) NONDISCLOSURE.—Any analysis pub2 lished under subparagraph (A) shall not dis3 close matters exempted from mandatory disclo4 sure under section 552(b) of title 5, United 

5 States Code. 

6 ‘‘(7) DATA-SHARING AGREEMENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.—Not8 withstanding subchapter III of chapter 35 of 

9 title 44, United States Code (commonly known 

10 as the ‘Confidential Information Protection and 

11 Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018’), not later 

12 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

13 subsection, the Administrator shall enter into a 

14 data-sharing agreement with the Federal Trade 

15 Commission that shall allow any information 

16 collected pursuant to this subsection to be re17 quested by and transferred to the Federal 

18 Trade Commission without limitation or delay. 

19 ‘‘(B) OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The 

20 Administrator may enter into data-sharing 

21 agreements with other Federal agencies that 

22 have energy-related policy decision-making re23 sponsibilities, including the Commodity Futures 

24 Trading Commission, the Federal Energy ReguVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:31 May 17, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4217.IS S4217

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1 latory Commission, and the Securities and Ex2 change Commission.’’. 

3 ‘‘(9) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Ad5 ministrator to carry out this section such sums as 

6 are necessary for each of fiscal years 2022 through 

7 2027.’’. 

Æ 


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