Oil companies are using the war in Ukraine as a pretext to raise gasoline prices and gouge customers. Meanwhile, they report the largest quarterly profits in eight years and openly brag about how they spend their profits on stock buybacks to shareholders.

To make matters worse, a report in Fortune Magazine shows they are not investing these profits in green energy to combat climate change as our planet burns. We need reasonable price controls, and oil companies must pay a windfall profits tax.

A windfall tax would levy a tax on profits made by fossil fuel companies in response to the Ukraine invasion, and also tax profits made as inflation has risen. This can discourage oil companies from artificially inflating gas prices. And it's one of the few things Congress or the Biden Administration can do to deter this price gouging.

Senators Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey have both called for action in recent days, and in 2020 Sanders introduced similar legislation to a windfall profits tax. As Americans get anxious with prices at the gas pump, now is the time to hold oil companies accountable.

Sign the petition: Congress must pass a windfall profits tax and reinvest that money into programs that will accelerate an equitable transition to a renewable energy economy.