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GUEST: Judy Dugan, Research Director at the Foundation for Tax payer and Consumer Rights

According to the California Energy Commission, motorists in this state paid an average of $2.81 per gallon of petrol at the pump in 2006. Gas prices in the state, which peaked at $3.31 in May 2006, surpassed an inflation-adjusted record set twenty-five years ago during the energy crisis of 1981. According to some analysts, the New Year may not bring much relief at the pump. While oil companies and pro-business groups try to blame record setting gas prices on market forces and the state’s clean air regulations, consumer advocates are challenging such claims. By comparing price spikes in Washington State and California, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights contends that oil companies are wrong to fault clean air regulations for the record setting increases in California’s gas prices. Motorists in Washington State, which has weaker market and clean-air regulations, were actually paying more at the pump that Californians throughout December. In response the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights has called on state and federal lawmakers to take various actions to prevent price gouging by oil companies.

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is online at www.consumerwatchdog.org.