Blumenthal Calls On President To Support State Effort Against Gasoline Price Gouging

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who has been urging federal action for the past six years, this week called on President Bush again to immediately and aggressively join in an active alliance with Connecticut and states across the nation that have been pursuing price gouging investigations for several months.

Mr Blumenthal also called on the president to support a windfall profits tax, the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and several other measures to stop dangerously spiraling gasoline prices — all proposals that Mr Blumenthal presented to Congress early this year.

The state attorney general’s statement responds to President Bush’s announcement that he will ask all 50 states to pursue gasoline price gouging investigations. Mr Blumenthal’s office is helping to lead the Executive Committee of a multistate investigation of oil prices ongoing for several months. His office has also already negotiated several gasoline price-gouging settlements in Connecticut — and additional settlements will be announced imminently.

The key now is for federal support and active involvement in this ongoing investigatory and legislative effort, Mr Blumenthal said. He welcomed reports that President Bush plans to now provide federal assistance in this effort.

“I welcome the feds to this fight,” Mr Blumenthal said. “I am pleased that the President has realized that federal inaction and inertia is no longer an option.”

Mr Blumenthal, who called on Congress to do the same in February, urged President Bush to support measures to:

éOrder an aggressive, comprehensive federal investigation, in partnership with the states, to determine whether and how oil companies have misused monopolistic power — much as federal and state antitrust enforcers combined and cooperated in a similar investigation regarding Microsoft;

éEnact a one-year moratorium on oil industry mergers;

éProhibit any oil company merger in a highly concentrated market unless the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) specifically finds consumers benefit from the merger;

éBan zone pricing and other mechanisms that prevent gasoline retailers from obtaining gasoline at the best price;

éExpand refinery capacity and mandate minimum levels of inventory of a significant source of energy;

éLessen dependency on gasoline through conservation efforts and alternative fuels.