WASHINGTON — Texas’ winter storm in February left thousands of residents without power in freezing temperatures and claimed the lives of at least 200 people.

What You Need To Know

  • Texas' winter storm in February left thousands of residents without power, at least 200 people dead, and many Texans faced sky-high gas and electric bills 

  • Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, on Wednesday introduced the Gas Consumer Emergency Market Protection Act, a bill he says is aimed at preventing the natural gas industry from price gouging during an emergency such as the February storm

  • The bill was originally authored by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas 

  • The bill, Castro said, would additionally impose natural gas trading limits during national emergencies 

Beyond that, it left many Texans with shocking power bills.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, on Wednesday introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that he says would prevent the natural gas industry from price gouging during an event such as the winter storm.

Called the Gas Consumer Emergency Market Protection Act, it was originally authored by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas.

“While Texas families faced life or death situations and struggled to stay warm amid freezing temperatures, natural gas sellers raked-in over $10 billion in profits by raising prices as much as 10,000-percent," Castro wrote in a news release announcing the bill. "This bill will identify those who have unfairly profited from the Texas winter storm and put in place safeguards to prevent any future entity from price gouging Americans during an emergency. Texans in need should not pay for the greed of oil and gas corporations trying to profit off of their misery."

The bill, according to Castro, would additionally establish a “federal circuit breaker,” imposing natural gas trading limits during national emergencies.

Castro said the natural gas commodity market spiked over 10,000% during the storm, leaving many with high gas and electric bills.

“After struggling through a deadly winter storm without power, running water, or heat—thanks to the avoidable failures of the Abbott Administration—so many Texan families endured the additional insult of being blindsided with outrageous energy bills,” Doggett wrote. “Profiteering insult to greed-caused injury. The Gas Consumer Emergency Market Protection Act takes a strong step forward to protect Texan lives and life savings by laying key groundwork for delivering accountability and action to protect consumers from price gouging in the natural gas market during future emergencies, and any future Republican failures during those emergencies.”

According to Castro, the bill would:

  • Direct the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to undertake an inquiry into the beneficiaries of the commodity price escalation during Uri and report to Congress with recommendations on how to address future events.
  • Direct the CFTC to conduct a rulemaking requiring natural gas markets to implement trading ceilings during declared emergency events.
  • Establish a federal fine for entities that engage in price distortion activities during times of emergency.