FTC Finds Gas Price Gouging After Katrina

[stephan]

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FTC Finds Gas Price Gouging After Katrina
May 22 11:43 AM US/Eastern
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By BRAD FOSS
AP Business Writer


WASHINGTON


The Federal Trade Commission on Monday said it found 15 examples of gasoline price gouging after Hurricane Katrina, though the agency said it has not identified any widespread effort by the oil industry to illegally manipulate the marketplace.

The agency sought to downplay the instances of price gouging by seven refiners, two wholesalers and six retailers, chalking up their soaring prices in September 2005 to "regional or local market trends."

For the purpose of the report, and as mandated by Congress, the FTC defined price gouging as "any finding" that the average price of gasoline in designated disaster areas in September 2005 was higher than in August 2005.

The FTC was first directed by the energy law passed last August _ before Katrina _ to investigate whether oil companies maniuplated the price of gasoline in any way, including whether they intentionally held back refining capacity to keep supplies artificially tight. This part of the agency's probe found "no instances of illegal market manipulation."

Congress demanded separate investigations into the industry's pricing activities _ as well as its enormous profits _ after Hurricane Katrina, which severely disrupted the flow of oil and natural-gas in the Gulf of Mexico and also caused the shutdown of onshore refineries and pipelines.

In the week after the hurricane, retail gasoline prices leapt 46 cents to a record nationwide average of $3.07 per gallon.

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http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/22/D8HOTOEG0.html


I think I found some evidence that they overlooked.

[Borodog]

Leave it to the FTC to "find" that prices go up in times of reduced supply and uncertainty, and call it a "crime."

[hmkpoker]

How dare you!

We Americans have an unalienable right to cheap gasoline.