Columnist Jeff German: Some oily companies selling gas

Wednesday, March 5, 2003 | 11:16 a.m.

The countdown has begun. Experts are predicting a gallon of regular gasoline will cost $2 in Las Vegas within the week.

That will get our attention.

AAA Nevada spokesman Sean Comey says hitting the $2 mark has a psychological effect on most motorists.

"People just get a sense of sticker shock," he says. "They get aggravated and look for ways to cut corners."

The average gallon of regular gasoline cost $1.89 in Las Vegas on Tuesday, compared with $1.57 a month ago and $1.25 on the same day a year ago, Comey reports.

Can we do anything to stop the soaring prices?

Probably not, according to Steve Yarborough, president of the Nevada Gasoline Retailers Association.

But maybe people will get angry enough to pressure Congress into finally doing something to force the big oil companies to disclose how they set their wholesale prices.

Yarborough doesn't blame the oil companies, which he acknowledges are likely to turn a handsome first-quarter profit this year, for the skyrocketing gasoline costs.

He blames President Bush for beating the drums of war with oil-producing Iraq and creating uncertainty in the crude-oil market. That uncertainty, Yarborough says, is driving up the price of a barrel of oil, which in turn is increasing the cost of making gasoline.

But if we're going to hold Bush accountable, other politicians deserve to be singled out, too.

California Gov. Gray Davis, who's watching his financially challenged state reap huge revenues from the inflated gasoline prices, isn't exactly clamoring for an investigation into the oil companies.

Unlike Nevada, California adds a 7 percent sales tax on top of local, state and federal excise taxes on each gallon of gasoline. The rising prices, it turns out, are pouring millions and millions of additional dollars into California's strapped coffers.

Then there's Congress, which definitely should share some of the blame for this mess.

Every time gasoline prices rise dramatically, there's a move on Capitol Hill to investigate whether the big oil companies are gouging the public. But every time, big oil, with its powerful lobby, manages to fend off the scrutiny and keep its pricing practices secret.

This session of Congress Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., has introduced a bill that once more aims to shed light on those practices. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., has signed on as a co-sponsor.

Berkley aides, not surprisingly, say the bill faces an uphill battle in a Republican-controlled Congress that is close to the Exxons and Texacos of the world.

But maybe once motorists find themselves paying $2 a gallon to fill their gasoline tanks, they'll encourage their members of Congress to go after big oil once and for all.

Maybe they'll figure the time has come for their elected leaders to unravel the great oil-pricing mystery.