By the OGJ Online Staff
WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 13 -- US federal regulators said late Wednesday they are asking motorists to report unfair gasoline prices to a Department of Energy hotline.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, lawmakers said they were also monitoring the gasoline price situation.
Since those announcements, retail prices appear to have eased. US officials have said there is no economic reason to justify price spikes in the aftermath of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC.
To further improve market conditions, the Environmental Protection Agency late Wednesday said it would waive tighter summer reformulated gasoline standards 3 days early.
The federal response was triggered by reports earlier this week that Midwest gas stations were charging as much as $5/gal in anticipation of constricted supplies because of Tuesday's airplane attacks (OGJ Online, Sept. 12, 2001).
Federal policy makers said that there was no supply disruption that would justify sharply higher prices or panic buying.
To help stabilize prices, several large US wholesale gasoline suppliers also promised, without government direction, not to increase prices.
The American Petroleum Institute said fuels were flowing normally to wholesale and retail markets throughout the US, gasoline and diesel fuel inventories were adequate to meet demand, and that refinery production remained strong.
The American Automobile Association also said DOE had asked it to report alleged price gouging.
Meanwhile, Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said, "I am calling on the Federal Trade Commission, the Justice Department, the Energy Department, state consumer organizations and others to vigorously monitor this situation, and to prosecute any service station owner who tries to use this national tragedy to take advantage of motorists by unjustifiably increasing the price of gasoline."
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and other legislators also said Congress would consider action if the problem continued.
