Thousands complain to feds on gas gouging

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers are demanding an investigation into gasoline prices after thousands of motorists called a government hotline to complain of price gouging.

The Energy Department reported more than 5,000 calls to its price gouging hotline Thursday from around the country, although officials emphasized there was no way to immediately determine how many of the allegations were valid.
“In Illinois, prices are reported to have shot up 50 cents per gallon overnight and the state attorney general received more than 500 reports of price gouging,” nine Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee wrote the Federal Trade Commission, asking the agency to step up its review of gas markets.

“These increases go far beyond anything justified or relating to the market disruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina,” wrote Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the committee’s ranking Democrat, and the other members.

AP