Alaska State Legislature
News from the House Majority

Jerry Ritter, House Majority Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801
Phone: (907) 465-3804
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Actuality line: 1-800-478-6540

Gasoline Prices: Why are They Still so High?

Committee Will Take More Testimony

For Immediate Release April 22, 1998 Contact: Rep. Jerry Sanders at (907) 465-4945.

Juneau -- The House Special Committee on Economic Development will meet Thursday, April 23rd, at 3:00 PM in Room 17 of the State Capitol in Juneau to hear testimony from public- and private sector experts into why fuel prices in Alaska stubbornly remain so high.

"We've received hours of public testimony from the mining, logging, fishing, trucking, and other Alaskan industries," said Representative Jerry Sanders (R-Anchorage), Chairman of the Economic Development Committee. "There's no doubt these high fuel prices definitely are a drag on economic development and on the quality of life in Alaska," Sanders said.

Testimony before the committee indicated that refiners are attempting to replace independent retail outlets and distributors with company-owned facilities. This would solidify refiners' control over prices as neither capacity nor supply seem to be a determining factor in the cost of fuel in Alaska.

"Refiners say: 'We charge what the market will bear,'" Sanders said. "If there was any alternative, Alaskans would not bear those high prices. But there's no price competition from Outside refiners. Clearly, State law does not protect Alaskans from predatory pricing practices," Sanders said.

Invited to the April 23rd hearing are:

• Present public members of the Royalty Oil & Gas Development Authority
• Any former public members who can be contacted
• Commissioner of Natural Resources John Shively
• Commissioner of Revenue Wilson Condon
• Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development Deborah Sedwick
• Commissioner of Community and Regional Affairs Mike Irwin
• Attorney General Bruce Botelho

"We know, as any Alaskan consumer knows, that fuel prices in Alaska are obscenely high," Sanders said. "We're hoping that those testifying at the April 23rd hearing will be able to shed some light on how we got into this predicament and what the Administration needs from the Legislature to get us out of it," Sanders said.

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