Michigan To Prosecute Price Gouging

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By Keith Naughton

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Beyond the panic in the streets of New York city, there was panic at the gas pump in some cities Tuesday. Motorists flooded to gas stations in the mistaken belief that the terrorist attacks on America would lead to a fuel shortage. Some gas station owners took advantage of the situation by hiking prices to above $5 a gallon.

At one Sunoco station in Cleveland, cars snaked down the street waiting to pay $4 a gallon to top off their tanks. Police, however, shut down the station Wednesday morning, charging the owner with price gouging. Cleveland Police dispatched cars to several gas stations "in case fights break out," a dispatcher said.

In Michigan, Attorney General Jennifer Granholm is filing charges against as many as eight gas stations for price gouging. Granholm was deluged with nearly 500 consumer complaints about gas prices that reached as high as $6.75 at one Jackson, Mich., station. Several consumers reported paying between $4 and $5 per gallon for gasoline that at the beginning of the week was selling for about $1.60 a gallon. "It is outrageous, immoral, unconscionable and illegal to exploit an American tragedy," Granholm told NEWSWEEK. "People are already feeling helpless and this just adds insult to injury. It's very sickening." If the stations don't lower their prices within 10 days, the state of Michigan will file suit against them, and they could face fines of up to $25,000 for each motorist who was gouged. Still, even with the threat of prosecution, stations continued to try to make a buck on the tragedy. And consumers still lined up to fill their tanks at up to five times their normal rate, gas-station owners reported. The run on gas became so serious that the American Petroleum Institute issued a statement Wednesday to assure U.S. motorists that there is plenty of gas available throughout the country. "There's no need to panic," says Granholm.

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