Suit filed against Springfield gas station for price gouging

Attorney General Jay Nixon filed a lawsuit against Express Lane Inc., 2959 N. Grant, for allegedly increasing its profit margin by more than 400 percent in the days after Katrina.

The retail gas station refused to pay a monetary penalty when first contacted about Nixon’s findings in his investigation. The case has made its way to Greene County Circuit Court.

Nixon examined the market data for more than 50 stations in the state for 10 days prior to Katrina and 10 days following.

“We looked at this 20-day snapshot in time to compare the margins between how much retailers paid for the gas and how much they charged customers for the gas,” Nixon said in a news release. “That margin was the focal point of our investigation.”

Nick Adams, president of Express Lane, was not immediately available for comment.

Eight other stations in southeast Missouri and one in Joplin complied with initial fines and paid a total of $6,750 to local schools.

Ronald J. Leone, executive director of Missouri Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, was quick to respond to the price gouging allegations and says retail gas station owners only raised prices as dictated by the effects of Katrina.

In a news release, Leone stated that the fact that only 10 stations were accused – out of approximately 3,000 gas stations and convenience stores in Missouri – proves price gouging is not an industrywide problem.

Retail prices, he said, are mostly determined before fuel arrives at a station based on the cost of crude oil, cost of oil refinement and state and federal taxes.

“When wholesale fuel prices increase, no fuel retailer can remain in business for long if they sell fuel for $2.50 per gallon when their cost for the replacement fuel is $2.99 or more per gallon,” Leone said.