By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – Western New Yorkers are paying some of the highest gas prices in the country. But US Senator Charles Schumer is fighting for some immediate relief.
Paul Lasly of Rochester travels to Buffalo a couple of times a week to visit and care for his elderly mother. It is costly to fill up his car's gas tank. And to complicate matters, he's unemployed.
"The impact has been incredible. I filled up my tank last week and it cost $57. That is probably two or three times what I was expecting to do especially with a limited amount of an unemployment check, soon to be exhausted," Lasly said. "It is very, very concerning to me."
When Lasly saw Senator Schumer standing in front of the Delta Sonic on Walden Avenue in Cheektowaga, he stopped to listen to Schumer's efforts to fight price gouging. Schumer says there is a huge disparity in prices throughout the Buffalo area. But he is not blaming local stations. Schumer says the gas stations are being forced to pay higher delivery charges to the oil companies.
"In most cases, the gouging is by the big oil companies, the pipeline companies and the distributors, not the local gas station," Schumer said.
When the hurricane devastated the Louisiana coastline, gas prices soared. But Schumer says the price hike is not a response to supply and demand.
"Why did the price go up two days after Katrina. There was a two week supply in the pipeline," Schumer said. "It didn't cost them that much then and why are gas prices still high?"
Schumer says consumers must be offered immediate relief to the high prices. He's calling on the Federal Trade Commission to begin an immediate investigation into the high cost of gasoline. He wants criminal penalties for those caught price gouging. Schumer is also calling for an end to big oil company mergers. He says they have a monopoly and are making record profits.