Same old song and dance
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No comments [ Add Comment ]With news that Utah gasoline retailers are taking extra profits at the pump -- 30 cents higher than the national average per gallon -- all the talk sounded eerily familiar to us. So we looked back a couple of years and found the story is nothing new.
In September 2006, retailers did the same thing: As gasoline prices were dropping nationwide, Utah prices remained level. Gov. Jon Huntsman voiced concern and said his administration would get right on it. A month later, in October 2006, a report was issued revealing that, on average, retailers usually earned a 3 percent profit on gasoline, but when the investigation was launched they were averaging 6 percent profit.
Huntsman responded through his press secretary, who said: "He feels that this is something that we will continue to focus on."
Our story about the report said it "suggests three potential options for future governmental action. Those could include adding pipelines into the state, reducing gasoline use through other transit means and industry regulation."
In the end, nothing was done.
Now, flash forward a couple of years to the present. Again, retailers are, collectively, refusing to lower their prices as the cost of crude oil dives -- down more than 25 percent from its $147 per barrel high. As mentioned earlier, Utahns are paying 30 cents more, on average, for a gallon of gasoline than other Americans.
Huntsman's response, in a press release issued Wednesday: "the Department of Agriculture and Food and the Department of Commerce are actively monitoring and analyzing Utah gas prices. ... We are asking these state agencies to monitor the situation within their enforcement powers to make sure Utahns are not being taken advantage of. ... If suspicious practices are detected, the agencies will refer them to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff."
In 2006, 24 retailers were asked to submit information to the Department of Commerce; only four responded. That's because the state apparently can't even compel them to provide information. The prices only came down after weeks of the public heaping shame on retailers -- it wasn't the fear of government stepping in, because in these matters government is utterly impotent. State regulation of gasoline price-gouging is toothless, so the governor is reduced to using forceful words while he has no actual authority to back them up.
So, here's what you should expect to come of the governor's active "monitoring and analyzing" of Utah's inordinately high gasoline prices: nothing.
