Local environmental activists are calling on Tampa Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor to support legislation that would tax large oil and gas companies’ excess profits, which they say are linked to the spike in crude oil prices.

They want to see the revenue raised from the tax go to consumers in the form of rebate checks.

“It’s definitely not the solution to the problem, but it’s something that can make a difference and start hitting our common enemy, big oil, right now,” said Brooke Errett, the Florida organizer with Food & Water Watch.

The legislation — sponsored in the House by California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna and in the Senate by Rhode Island Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse — would levy a quarterly tax on large oil companies and distribute the revenue to consumers through a quarterly rebate.

The per-barrel tax would be equivalent to half the differential between the pre-pandemic average oil price from 2015 through 2019 and current prices, according to Rollcall.com.

Errett was part of a coalition of environmental activists — which included the Tampa Bay Climate Alliance, University of South Florida Student Public Interest research Group (PIRG), Florida Student Power Network, Tampa DSA Eco-Socialists and Sunrise Tampa — that held a protest against the “Big Oil” industry on Tuesday afternoon at a Mobil gas station near the USF campus in North Tampa.

"What the legislation would do is take the record profits, or windfall profits, that big oil and gas has been making during the COVID crisis and the war in Ukraine, and it would heavily tax it," said Errett on Saturday as she joined other activists drawing up posters to be used at Tuesday's protests. "It would take that money that they've been overcharging us — the regular U.S. person paying for gas at the pump — and then return it to us through stimulus checks."

“Joe Biden isn’t to blame for these extraordinary gas prices,” added Monica Petralla, the co-chair of the Tampa Democratic Socialists of America Eco-Socialists group. “The real deal is profiteering. Which is unacceptable at any time, but especially in a time of crisis like we’re seeing.”

Gas stations have become hot spots for political activity this year with the surge in gasoline prices. GOP candidates such as Anna Paulina Luna have held voter-registration drives to pin the blame on Democrats for the crisis.

The idea of a windfall profits tax has been criticized by business and energy groups.

“The price at the pump that Americans are paying is a function of a supply and demand imbalance combined with geopolitical turmoil and policy uncertainty from Washington,” says Gifford Briggs, Gulf Coast Region Director with the American Petroleum Institute. “Instead of finger pointing, lawmakers should focus on policies that increase supply, including fully restoring federal leasing and acting on a 5-year offshore program to ensure continued exploration and production in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico.”

Alex Muresianu, a federal analyst at the Tax Foundation, said that there are some years when oil companies are extremely profitable, and some years when they're not, referring to 2020 when the coronavirus had people stuck in their homes and not in their automobiles.

"That there are higher profits at a time where there's restricted levels of supply coming from abroad is sort of a natural payoff to get people to be willing to invest and produce more," he said.

A survey conducted by Democratic pollster Peter Hart for the League of Conservation Voters showed strong support for a windfall profits tax.

While Castor hasn’t acted on the demand to support a windfall profits tax, she is a co-sponsor of legislation that would require the Federal Trade Commission to investigate possible gas price manipulation. Other sponsors of the legislation include Orlando Rep., and U.S. Senate candidate, Val Demings).

“Americans are tired of being overcharged at the pump by Big Oil CEOs who are using billions in profit to enrich their shareholders,” Castor said in a statement sent to Spectrum Bay News 9. “It needs to stop. That’s why I’ve introduced legislation with Congresswoman Val Demings to protect the pocketbooks of Americans by uncovering price gouging practices and taking away the ability of oil and gas executives to profiteer during a time of crisis. And I’ll keep fighting in Congress to make the switch to cheap, clean energy, which remains the best way to lower energy costs for Floridians.”

Castor is considered an influential voice on energy issues in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. Since 2019 she has chaired the the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.