http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/tue/business/news_1b9gas.html
>The markup on a gallon of regular unleaded sold during March in California >rose to nearly 70 cents ö up from 28 cents since January ö and compared with >an average 31 cents elsewhere. > >About six cents of the state's higher price was caused by a shift to >ethanol-based gas, but Lockyer said the rest was largely profit. My personal view: I'm neither against the Oil Business as such, nor against making a profit. I am against though the market manipulation of vehicles that seems to have happened (preventing vehicles from reaching the road which could use a competing fuel, though I have found no "smoking gun") and I am against installation of a monopoly situation in fuels (which seems to be the de facto situation) without any competition, or promise of competition. I'd like to see better competition, full and real competition, both in fuels and in autos. Notice the inaccurate comment of the WSPA spokesperson: >A spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Association said Lockyer's >conclusions about higher industry profits were contradicted by studies from >federal energy officials and the California Energy Commission. > >"The commission reported that causes of the price hikes were strictly market >based," said Jeff Wilson, a spokesman for the petroleum association. > >But Rob Schlicting, a spokesman for the energy commission, said the body >reached no conclusions about industry profits. In fact, he said, the >commission was asking the industry for additional information so it could make >a determination about profits. Make no mistake folks: the WSPA is a major force and generally a forimdable enemy. It seems to be very active in lobbying to prevent virtually every effort to get competing alternatives in fuels (or vehicles) on the road in California (or elsewhere). It is extremely well-funded. I seem to remember that their budget for major efforts can get into the millions, but I don't have a reference for that. MM ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/l.m7sD/LIdGAA/qnsNAA/9bTolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
