US to Watch for Gas Price-gouging: Bush

Reuters ^ | 4/18/2006 | Staff Writers

[ex-Texan]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he is "concerned" about high gasoline prices, and pledged that the U.S. government will keep a close watch out for profiteering.

"I'm concerned about higher gasoline prices," Bush said at a Rose Garden news conference to name new staff appointments.

"The government has the responsibility to make sure that we watch very carefully and investigate possible price-gouging, and we will do just that," Bush said in unprompted remarks about energy prices.

U.S. crude oil futures hit a record of $70.88 a barrel on Tuesday on fears of supply disruptions in Iran stemming from its nuclear standoff with the West, as well as lingering outages in Nigeria.

U.S. retail gasoline prices rose 10 cents last week to average $2.78 a gallon, up 29 cents over the last three weeks and 55 cents higher than a year ago, the government said on Monday.

Bush said high crude oil prices, rising summer driving demand and a switch to new motor gasoline standards is keeping gasoline prices high.

"It's tight supply worldwide and we've got increasing demand from countries like India and China, which means that any disruption of supply ... (is) going to cause the price of crude to go up," Bush said.

More drivers will take to the road this summer, which will also boost demand, he said.

"At this time of year people are beginning to drive more, getting out on the highways, taking a little time off," Bush said. "That increasing demand is also part of the reason the price of gasoline is going up."

[txoilman]

"Little late to be complaining....they told us last year that the gas prices would reach $3.00 a gallon by this summer....all due to Katrina....which I think is BS.... "

As a petroleum engineer with the Minerals Management Service I can tell you that approximately 25% of the production from the Gulf of Mexico is still shut-in from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It will take years before this production is put back on line and that is no BS....

[FixitGuy]

That the best you can do?

[the OlLine Rebel]

Actually we HAVE become very fascist, and the libs are just yearning for more.

I'm talking about NATURAL rights that the government violates. Use common sense.

Environmental laws are the perfect examples of fascism - and yes, they are IN this country. They allow you to own property but don't let you do all you want with it. And that's a CLEAR violation of natural rights.

[Protagoras]

That the best you can do?

That's all it takes.

[FixitGuy]

Gotta have the last word, huh?

[traviskicks]

If anyone is interested I blogged about this article and, generally, other aspects of government and gasoline:

http://www.neoperspectives.com/gasoline_and_government.htm