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Crist Warns Gas Stations

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By STEVEN GIRARDI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2008

TAMPA - Gov. Charlie Crist warned gasoline vendors Saturday about price gouging in the wake of Hurricane Ike's landfall, even as some stations increased prices to more than $4 a gallon.

"There's plenty of fuel in Florida," Crist said, as he encouraged the public to report stations where prices had risen dramatically.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the state attorney general's office will investigate complaints, and Crist said guilty parties will be prosecuted.

"This will not be tolerated. It's unconscionable," the governor said during a Saturday morning news conference in St. Petersburg.

Gas prices and supplies fluctuated greatly Saturday. Many stations in Tampa were selling regular gas at $3.67 to $3.69 a gallon; a few had increased to $3.81 and $3.83. The Flying J Travel Plaza at Interstate 75 and State Road 52 in Dade City was selling regular gas for as much as $4.57.

Other stations were running out or were completely out of gas.
Jerold Milligan, an attendant at the Shell station at Kennedy Boulevard and Howard Avenue in Tampa, said he ran out of regular gas Friday night. The two higher grades were going fast Saturday morning.

"By midday, we'll be done," he said.

Milligan said the manager told him more gas would arrive Monday. The station across the street, he said, got a gas delivery Friday night. "And the price for regular went up from $3.67 to $3.81," he said.

Crist urged motorists not to panic-buy gasoline, creating an artificial shortage.

"We have no shortage. We have no problem. So let's not create one," he said.
AAA South spokesman Randy Bly agreed with Crist that plenty of gasoline is available, but the cost and distribution of the supply can create wide pricing differences and spot outages.

"The problem is a stretching thin on the overall gas supply right now," Bly said, which is compounded when people begin to stockpile gasoline in anticipation of shortages or price increases.

He said the problem began Thursday, when wholesale gas prices in Florida increased to $4.89 a gallon.

Stations had to decide between buying that gas and hiking prices - still selling it below their cost - or letting their supplies run out and waiting for prices to drop.

"Many dealers are not willing to pass that huge of an increase on to consumers," he said. "They don't want to be accused of gouging or have the headache of people screaming at them."

Bly said 80 percent of Florida's gasoline comes from Louisiana refineries, rather than the Texas refineries shut down by Ike. While the Louisiana refineries continued to operate, barges couldn't get out of port until the hurricane passed. He said many should now be on their way.

Gas prices could remain higher as vendors try to recoup some of their losses, he said.

In Tallahassee, he said, prices were even higher than the Tampa area, topping $5 a gallon in some places, while in Georgia and Tennessee prices jumped 20 percent or more.

He called the increases "an annoyance and inconvenience."

"I heard a report in Arkansas that gas was $8 a gallon," he said. "Now that's price gouging."

As of 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Attorney General Bill McCollum said his office had received 261 complaints of gasoline price-gouging across the state.

Reporter Steven Girardi can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or sgirardi@tampatrib.com.

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