Complex sentence: He asserts that the increases in gas prices during Hurricane Katrina actually helped mitigate the damage done by the hurricane, and how government price controls, like those of the 1970s, would have made life much harder for the victims.
Split into simpler sentences: He asserts that the increases in gas prices during Hurricane Katrina actually helped mitigate the adverse impacts of the hurricane. He says that if government price controls, like those of the 1970s, had been enacted, they would have made life much harder for the victims.