S. 879: No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2007 needs just a little tweaking. Here is the bill as reported in the Senate.

A BILL

To amend the Sherman Act to make oil-producing and exporting cartels illegal.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2007′ or `NOPEC’.

SEC. 2. SHERMAN ACT.

The Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) is amended by adding after section 7 the following:

`SEC. 7A. OIL PRODUCING CARTELS.

`(a) In General- It shall be illegal and a violation of this Act for any foreign state, or any instrumentality or agent of any foreign state, to act collectively or in combination with any other foreign state, any instrumentality or agent of any other foreign state, or any other person, whether by cartel or any other association or form of cooperation or joint action–

`(1) to limit the production or distribution of oil, natural gas, or any other petroleum product;

`(2) to set or maintain the price of oil, natural gas, or any petroleum product; or

`(3) to otherwise take any action in restraint of trade for oil, natural gas, or any petroleum product;

when such action, combination, or collective action has a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect on the market, supply, price, or distribution of oil, natural gas, or other petroleum product in the United States.

`(b) Sovereign Immunity- A foreign state engaged in conduct in violation of subsection (a) shall not be immune under the doctrine of sovereign immunity from the jurisdiction or judgments of the courts of the United States in any action brought to enforce this section.

`(c) Inapplicability of Act of State Doctrine- No court of the United States shall decline, based on the act of state doctrine, to make a determination on the merits in an action brought under this section.

`(d) Enforcement- The Attorney General of the United States may bring an action to enforce this section in any district court of the United States as provided under the antitrust laws.’.

SEC. 3. SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY.

Section 1605(a) of title 28, United States Code, is amended–

(1) in paragraph (6), by striking `or’ after the semicolon;

(2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period and inserting `; or’; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

‘(8) in which the action is brought under section 7A of the Sherman Act.’.

GovTrack.us. S. 879–110th Congress (2007): No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2007, GovTrack.us (database of federal legislation) (accessed May 24, 2008)

It could be improved dramatically by the following changes in the bRight amendment. Additions are in bold, strikeouts are, well, struck out.

A BILL

To amend the Sherman Act to make oil-producing and exporting cartels oil-producing impediments illegal.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act of 2007′ or `NOPEC’.

SEC. 2. SHERMAN ACT.

The Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) is amended by adding after section 7 the following:

`SEC. 7A. OIL PRODUCING CARTELS.

`(a) In General- It shall be illegal and a violation of this Act for any foreign U.S. state, or any instrumentality or agent of any foreign U.S. state, to act collectively or in combination with any other foreign U.S. state, any instrumentality or agent of any other foreign U.S. state, or any other person, whether by cartel or any other association or form of cooperation or joint action, including the Federal Government of the United States –

`(1) to limit the production or distribution of oil, natural gas, or any other petroleum product;

`(2) to set or maintain the price of oil, natural gas, or any petroleum product; or

`(3) to otherwise take any action in restraint of trade for oil, natural gas, or any petroleum product;

when such action, combination, or collective action has a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect on the market, supply, price, or distribution of oil, natural gas, or other petroleum product in the United States.

`(b) Sovereign Immunity- A foreign U.S. state, or the United States Government, engaged in conduct in violation of subsection (a) shall not be immune under the doctrine of sovereign federal immunity from the jurisdiction or judgments of the courts of the United States in any action brought to enforce this section.

`(c) Inapplicability of Act of State Doctrine- No court of the United States shall decline, based on the act of state doctrine, to make a determination on the merits in an action brought under this section.

`(d) Enforcement- The Attorney General of the United States may bring an action to enforce this section in any district court of the United States as provided under the antitrust laws.’.

SEC. 3. SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY.

Section 1605(a) of title 28, United States Code, is amended–

(1) in paragraph (6), by striking `or’ after the semicolon;

(2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period and inserting `; or’; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

‘(8) in which the action is brought under section 7A of the Sherman Act.’.

See how much better that is. Mark Steyn put it this way:

More to the point, if the House of Representatives has now declared it “illegal” for the government of Saudi Arabia to restrict oil production, why is it still legal for the government of the United States to restrict oil production? In fact, the government of the United States restricts pretty much every form of energy production other than the bizarre fetish du jour of federally mandated ethanol production.

(h/t G.F at Stop The ACLU)