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Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) made public the findings of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation he requested which examined the unjustifiably high gas prices in Western New York last fall.
In January Senator Charles Schumer joined Congressman Higgins in the request for the investigation. The two lawmakers met and spoke with FTC representatives a number of times in the last few months. “The FTC, under the leadership of new Chairman John Leibowitz, met with us a number of times, took Western New York’s concerns seriously and followed through on the investigation,” said Congressman Higgins.
In the letter to Higgins the FTC indicated that while they “were unable to identify precise reasons why retail gasoline prices in some cities in Western New York…did not fall as quickly as prices in other Northeast cities…we note that prices began to fall soon after you raised public concerns about the elevated prices.” “Western New York consumers were getting ripped off and we sounded the alarm, which caused WNY gas prices to fall in line with state averages, again proving that when we stand up for ourselves we can get things done,” Higgins added. After Congressman Higgins publicly released an Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) report naming Jamestown & the Buffalo-Niagara regions among the top 5 most “Profitable” for gasoline retailers on December 4th, 2008, the prices of unleaded gas decreased from an average to $2.25 in Buffalo to $1.85 by the year’s end.
“While we might not have proof of illegal activity or a clear definition of why our prices were so high, what is clear is retailers were acting in bad faith trough some type of implicit collusion and retailers and consumers should know that we were watching then and are watching now and will continue to work to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Higgins.
In order to prevent price disparity in our region Congressman Higgins is planning to:
• RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS: by posting gas price information his website and promising to expose excess profits if the WNY region is out of line with other areas of New York;
• PREVENT PRICE GOUGING: by continuing to push for passage of federal price gouging legislation. In their letter, the FTC notes that, “some have suggested that one way to address high gasoline and diesel prices is through some form of federal price gouging legislation, such as H.R. 2129,” a bill cosponsored by Congressman Higgins.
• REDUCE SPECULATION: by supporting the passage of legislation to prevent excess speculation in the oil market The House passes such legislation last session however it died in the Senate. Congressman Higgins is a cosponsor on a new bill this session.
• INVEST IN RENEWABLE ENERGY: because we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
This action or similar congressional action in the future will not result in the elimination of all gas price inflation, but will serve to keep in check unjustifiable disparities between Buffalo's prices and those paid elsewhere. Obviously, retail gas prices are always fluctuating and will at times go up due to increased demand throughout the nation and abroad.
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