Spanish:
 
|
US gas stations sued amid soaring oil prices
AFP
NEW YORK
Petroleumworld.com 04 25 06Anger among US car owners over soaring gasoline pump prices has prompted stern warnings to service stations over the legal consequences of over-charging consumers.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed lawsuits Monday accusing three gas stations in the state with charging "unconscionably excessive prices" in the days following the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina along the US Gulf Coast last year.
The action was seen as a pre-emptive warning to other gas stations as global oil prices continue to hit record highs due, in part, to fears of a possible conflict with Iran.
The average price for a gallon of regular gas in New York City currently stands at more than three dollars per gallon.
The three stations named in Monday's lawsuits were charged with increasing their mark-ups on a gallon of gas by between 25 and 72 percent in the days after Katrina hit late last August.
Spitzer also called upon the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to "aggressively pursue" an ongoing investigation of gasoline pricing and market manipulation.
"It is essential that the FTC focuses not only on the merit of price gouging statutes that deal with events such as Katrina, but also on the causes behind the dramatic price increases we're experiencing all these months later," Spitzer said.
"While we need federal and state price gouging laws to protect consumers when disaster strikes, we also need to police oil company behavior during periods of unprecedented prices and profits," he added.
AFP 04 24 06 1600 GMTCopyright © 1994-2006 Agence France-Presse. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels