It Depends on What Your Definition of Gouging Is....

Exxon/Mobil is saying that Florida's price gouging law is too vague and the oil giant may not supply fuel in future emergencies if the law isn't clarified. According to an article in the St Petersburg Times, the company wants Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson to clarify what Florida means by its use of subjective language such as "grossly exceeds" or "gross disparity" in its price gouging law.
"These several terms and phrases remain undefined," says Exxon/Mobil spokesman Kevin Allexon. "It's pretty hard to know what is required of us should we find ourselves in a declared emergency."
For the past year, Bronson's agency has been investigating whether Exxon/Mobil overcharged suppliers in the days and weeks after Hurricane Ike struck the state in 2008.
Exxon/Mobil, the largest publicly traded oil company in the world, questioned whether Florida's price gouging law should be applied to wholesale or "business to business" oil transactions. (Isn't that just a back-door way of raising prices excessively without doing it at individual stations?)
The company acknowledged the likelihood of post-hurricane price increases.

"Motor fuel prices tend to increase as the available supply of motor fuel decreases relative to real or expected demand or consumption," Exxon/Mobil's petition says. "Should an event such as a hurricane slow or halt production even for a short time, bidding for available supplies may escalate, possibly resulting in an increase in price."

"If they don't want to be responsible citizens, that's their business," Bronson said. "I don't think the public is going to appreciate that."

Gov. Charlie Crist said he didn't think the statute was too vague. "I think it's very clear. I think you know it when you see it, and I know a jury certainly would," Crist said.

Bill Newton, of the Florida Consumer Action Network in Tampa expressed dismay at Exxon/Mobil's petition. "The nerve of them," he said. "They make the higest profits of any corporation in history and that's not enough?They have to go after hurricane victims?"

So you see folks, Exxon/Mobile is always thinking up ways of making even more money regardless if it is a sneaky way of costing consumers more at the pumps. I bet they are really furious that Florida didn't have any hurricanes or major storms to speak of this season. Do you still want to ever buy any gasoline from them?? Go to Facebook and join my group,

"Don't Buy Gas From Exxon/Mobil".