Re: Gas Prices (Gouging)

[Guest guest]

no gouging here, no lines. $1.37 super unleaded.

Mike wrote:

NEW YORK (AP) - In the hours after

the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, gas stations around

the United States jacked up their prices and some motorists scuffled in

long lines at the pumps.

In Topeka, Kan., a 78-year-old man

was arrested for aggravated assault after he allegedly pulled a pellet

gun on another customer and bumped his car into another to get to a pump.

``We got an e-mail from Oklahoma City

saying gas was over $6 a gallon,'' Ronda Hunter said while waiting in line

for gas in western Topeka. ``The news said it was jumping to $4 a gallon.

Is this madness or what?''

The R and L Texaco in Oklahoma City

increased the price of unleaded gasoline to $5 a gallon after a supplier

told the owner it was unclear when the next shipment would be available

and at what price.

Authorities in Oklahoma were investigating

instances of price-gouging, while Mississippi's attorney general, Mike

, asked Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to declare a state of emergency, which

would allow prosecutors to pursue price-gougers there.

The nation's largest oil companies

tried to allay concerns Tuesday by freezing their prices and pledging to

keep distribution steady, but their efforts seemed to have little immediate

impact.

Gas prices rose almost immediately

in parts of the Midwest, where prices were already high because of distribution

bottlenecks.

At Casey's General Store in Galesburg,

Ill., the price of gas had climbed to $4 per gallon from $1.68 earlier

in the day. In California, gasoline wholesalers raised prices by as much

as 20 cents a gallon.

Greg Seiter, a spokesman at the AAA

Hoosier Motor Club in Indiana, said his office has received reports of

prices rising to $3 and $4 a gallon in parts of Indiana, including Bloomington

and Indianapolis.

Though prices were holding steady at

about $1.66 for a gallon of regular unleaded at a Get-N-Go store in Sioux

Falls, S.D., attendant Walz said the lines were several cars deep.

Motorists waited up to 45 minutes to fill their gas tanks in Toledo, Ohio.

The average price of gasoline late

last week, including all grades and taxes, was $1.56 per gallon, according

to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide.

In Washington, the American Petroleum

Institute, the industry trade group, issued a statement reassuring motorists

that there is no threat of a fuel shortage.

``Fuels are flowing normally to wholesale

and retail markets throughout the United States,'' said the institute,

adding that gasoline and diesel fuel inventories ``are adequate to meet

demand.''

Exxon Mobil and BP, the nation's two

largest oil companies, sought to calm energy markets, telling traders that

supplies would not be hampered, except around New York City. The companies

urged consumers not to stockpile gasoline.

``We are asking all of our customers

to maintain their normal buying habits,'' Exxon Mobil spokesman Tom Cirigliano

said late Tuesday. ``We have ample supplies. We're trying to avoid an artificial

shortage.''

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Associated Press reporter Akers

in Topeka, Kan., contributed to this report