below is an email from a refinery plant manager in NW Washington to its employees.
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You may all be getting a lot of questions around the very high gasoline
prices. The attached article representing the Attorney General(AG) of
Washington State importantly states that in the view of the AG prices have
gone up due to "free market economics, not an industry effort to
artificially increase profits". This is the case now and has been the
conclusion of numerous other investigations that have occurred in the past
when gasoline prices have risen to high levels. There may very well be
investigations again, but probably not from the State of Washington.
>
> There is indeed a shortage of gasoline on the USWC that has temporarily
driven up prices to the current record highs. This shortage is largely due
to a number of refinery operating problems primarily in California; Forest
fires in BC, Canada that have caused the shutdown of Transmountain Pipeline
from Edmonton to Vancouver that ships both crude and product; the leak and
shutdown of a Kinder Morgan product pipeline between El Paso, Tx and Phoenix
Arizona; Refinery Maintenance and Unplanned shutdowns in Japan and Korea;
as well as the Electric Power Blackout in the US Northeast and Eastern
Canada that shutdown 8 refineries. As you can note there are a very unusual
number of problems all occurring at the same time. Many of these problems
are in the process of being resolved as I write this note and will lead to
lower prices and better supply in the not so distant future.
>
> I hope this helps you in conversations with family, neighbors, and
friends.
>
>
> Attorney general: Gas prices due to market forces
> OLYMPIA - Gas prices that have rocketed past $2 a gallon in some parts of
Washington are the result of free market economics, not an industry effort
to artificially increase profits, according to the state Attorney General's
Office.
> Gary Larson, a spokesman for Attorney General Christine Gregoire, says
there's no indication of any violation of state or federal price-fixing laws
in the recent price increases.
> "There's not much the Attorney General's Office can do," Larson said.
> Gas prices set a new record in Washington state last week, reaching and
average of $1.88 for a gallon of regular unleaded, according to a survey by
the American Automobile Association.
> Washington gas now costs 14 percent more than the national average of
$1.65, and trails only Hawaii, California, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada.
> AAA attributed the price increases to high demand and low supply. A
pipeline disruption in Arizona and refinery outages in California this
summer have contributed to a short supply of gasoline in many areas of the
West.
>
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