If that's not calling the kettle black, it's at least saying it's a really, really dark shade of gray. And the situation does seem to lend itself to that interpretation. Still, all those items together don't seem to add up to the huge jump that prices have taken. It does seem that something else is indeed at play here, and since local gas station owners claim they are making less money since prices started climbing, the EPA and the Justice Department need to start looking at the companies that supply the oil. Start there, and follow the trail wherever it leads, whether to industry leaders or local gas station owners or back to the EPA and its rules.
Consumers deserve an answer.
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on June 14, 2000. Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved.