Last spring, when gas prices were approaching the $4-a-gallon mark,
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was named to take part in a
federal probe into local, national and international causes of the increase.
In December, Schneiderman reported on potential price gouging at the pump
at 89 gas stations and the distribution network within New York -- and gouging
at a handful of stations in the state after last fall's two tropical storms.
Schneiderman spokeswoman Jennifer Givner said Wednesday that his work
with the federal Oil and Gas Price Fraud Working Group was both "completed"
and "ongoing... we will continue to share information with the task force as
cases arrive."
In April 2011 U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the group would
investigate "oil and gas markets for potential wrongdoing ... and developments
in commodities markets and examine investor practices, supply and demand
factors and the role of speculators and index traders in oil futures markets."
Ten months after its creation, the task force has not issued a public
report, while gasoline prices become increasingly political in a presidential
election year. Republicans claim rising global prices for crude oil -- which
is used to produce gasoline -- are the fault of Holder's boss, President
Barack Obama.
The price of oil is now about $107 a barrel, based on the benchmark price
of West Texas Intermediate, having steadily risen since August. That price is
close to where it peaked in April 2011, when it started to drop, followed by
gasoline prices.
Crude oil accounts for 69 percent of the retail price of gasoline,
according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, with the rest coming
from taxes (12 percent), refining costs (11 percent) and distribution,
marketing and retail costs (8 percent).
Gasoline use in the U.S. remains below historic highs as a result of the
economic downturn, but demand in China and India remains strong. And trading
in oil as a commodity by large investors has risen.
Schneiderman's December report found rising gasoline prices in New York
were "primarily driven by changes in the price of crude oil, not actions taken
by gasoline retailers." But any deeper examination of forces behind the price
of crude oil, and hence, the price of gasoline "were not in our charge or
within our jurisdiction," said Schneiderman spokeswoman Givner.
Holder's office could not provide any comment to a reporter who called to
asked about the status of the task force.
Schneiderman was named to the group as the representative of the National
Association of Attorneys General.
Other members named by Obama include the National Association of
Attorneys General, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Trade
Commission, the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, the
Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the departments of Agriculture
and Energy.
When rising gasoline prices sparked political debates last spring, Obama
and congressional Democrats called for ending billions of dollars in annual
tax subsidies to oil companies, which are enjoying record profits.
Republicans want to leave the tax breaks in place and loosen
environmental rules to allow for more off-shore drilling and to open up the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil companies.
