Washington, D.C. – Following the announcement late last week of record quarterly profits for the largest U.S. fossil fuel companies, dozens of advocacy groups from across the country sent a letter to Congressional leaders today calling for passage of a legislative package including a ban on fossil fuel exports and a windfall profits tax on industry majors. The letter was organized by the environmental organization Food & Water Watch and signed by groups including Climate Justice Alliance, Friends of the Earth and GreenFaith.

Specifically, the legislative package demanded by the groups includes: the Gasoline Export Ban Act, prohibiting gasoline exports when the national average price exceeds $3.12 per gallon for a week, aiming to lower fuel costs for American consumers; the Big Oil Windfall Profits Act, imposing an excise tax on the profits of certain crude oil producers and importers in the United States; the End Polluter Welfare Act, eliminating more than $190 billion in tax loopholes and federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry; and the Lowering American Energy Costs Act, prohibiting the export of natural gas to lower domestic energy prices.

The letter states, in part: 

Families across the country are struggling with higher gasoline prices at a time when oil and gas corporations reap massive profits that reward industry executives and shareholders with stock buybacks and massive payouts… We are seeing similar increases in energy prices for electricity and heating costs, driven by rising commodity prices for natural gas and new fossil fuel infrastructure costs… There are concrete ways to fight back against the fossil fuel industry and their insatiable profiteering… As a first step, we urge you to use your power as leaders in Congress to advance these policies to rein in fossil fuel industry profits and protect consumers from the current energy affordability crisis.

Chevron and ExxonMobil booked a combined $26.6 billion in post-tax profits (net income) in the second quarter of 2026 – $20.2 billion more than in the first quarter of the year. These increased post-tax profits accounted for 38.6 percent of the increase in these corporations’ revenue in the second quarter of 2026. Chevron and ExxonMobil made 5.5 and 3.5 times more profit in the second quarter of 2026 as they did in the first quarter of the year. Chevron made nearly as much in the second quarter of 2026 ($12 billion) as it made in all of 2025 (12.3 billion).

“As President Trump continues to ignore the deepening energy cost crisis in America with meaningless platitudes, false promises and outright dismissiveness, Congress has an opportunity to step up and advance real, tangible solutions that would help families and small businesses,” said Food & Water Watch Policy Director Jim Walsh. “The legislative tools to address the crisis are sitting on the shelf, waiting for the political will to pull them down, dust them off, and put them to work.”