May 22, 2013
Governor Doyle said Tuesday he'll subpoena oil company executives to appear at an administrative hearing in Wisconsin to explain why they're reaping record profits in the wake of the Gulf Coast hurricanes.
Doyle says he plans to use authority under the state's trade and consumer protection law to issue the subpoenas. The governor says he's not aware of any other Wisconsin governor making use of the subpoena power.
If the executives ignore the subpeonas to a December 1st hearing in Milwaukee, Doyle says they could be found in contempt.
Doyle says industry experts, business leaders and consumer protection specialists are expected to testify at the hearing.
The world's largest publicly traded oil company, Exxon Mobil, reported last week its third-quarter earnings soared to nearly ten billion dollars, up from about five and a-half billion a year earlier.
Doyle and seven other Democratic governors recently sent a letter to President Bush and congressional leaders demanding that Congress investigate possible gas-price gouging in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and refund any ill-gotten profits to consumers.
