Community Corner

The Search (And Fight) For Lower Gas Prices: Where Do You Fill Up?

Rep. McCarthy co-sponsoring legislation and supporting oversight to fight "unfair practices by oil industry profiteers."

U.S. gas prices jumped more than 11 cents per gallon over a two-week period this month but may be peaking as the price of crude oil holds steady, according to the latest Lundberg Survey.

As of Friday afternoon, according to www.motortrend.com the price of regular gasoline was more than $4 at all stations in the Garden City area. The Shell located at 88 Nassau Boulevard right under the Merillon Avenue overpass is selling it for $4.26 while the Getty at 347 Nassau Boulevard is charging $4.20.

Mobil On the Run at 791 Stewart Avenue and Mobil located at 640 Old Country Road are both selling regular for $4.10.

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For Bob Bolebruch, the cheapest he found was at the Mobil on Peninsula Blvd. in Hempstead, which was selling regular for 3.98. "It's sad when that is the low," he said, adding that the high prices have not changed his driving habits.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-Mineola, said this week she's taking steps to help lower gas prices by co-sponsoring legislation and supporting an independent federal agency that would combat the kind of oil market speculation that leaves middle-class motorists suffering at the pump.

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“The oil industry and government both need to take steps to keep gas prices within reach, and both can do better,” she said. “That’s why I’m supporting legislation and federal oversight that put the government, oil companies, and oil speculators all to work at lowering prices at the pump for millions of Americans.  We need affordable gas to keep our nation on a path back to economic health, and we can’t let oil producers and industry profiteers get in the way.

The congresswoman is a co-sponsor of the Taxpayer and Gas Price Relief Act of 2011, which, she said, aims to lower gas prices and save taxpayers money in four major ways:

  • prohibiting price gouging at the pump;
  • closing unfair tax loopholes for oil and gas companies;
  • authorizing the sale of millions of barrels of crude oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to fight market manipulation by speculators; and
  • restructuring offshore oil and gas leases to make them fairer for taxpayers and use the savings to reduce the federal deficit and debt

Rep. McCarthy also signed on to a letter to Congressional budget appropriators this month calling for "full funding of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which, under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, has new powers to ensure that American consumers are protected from speculators who might use fear of instability in the Middle East to drive up the price of oil."

The letter was sent on March 23 to chairman Jack Kingston and ranking member Sam Farr of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies.

“With families struggling to fill their tanks,” according to the letter, “it is vital that the CFTC have the full slate of tools and resources necessary to protect against market distortions that could raise gasoline prices even further.”

Where have you found the cheapest gas? Let us know in the comments section below.


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