ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- New Mexico Attorney General Gary King's office has delivered its report to the state legislature about the disparity in gasoline and diesel prices in New Mexico.
"The change in the apparent relationship between the prices of gasoline and of diesel fuel in New Mexico generally reflects similar changes in the national and global markets for the two products…. Overall, the businesses and consumers in New Mexico may expect to see diesel fuel at an increasingly higher cost compared to gasoline, which itself may continue to increase slowly," said the report. "These [image-nocss] outcomes are the results of a growing population, the global market 's increased pace of industrialization, especially in Asia, and the natural depletion of easily obtained crude oil. These factors do not suggest deliberate or malicious tinkering with the New Mexico petroleum marketplace."
King told legislators, "The relative prices for gasoline and diesel fuels in New Mexico are affected by a number of factors. National and global markets come into play; government emissions standards have an effect; even international politics have a role in the prices New Mexicans ultimately pay for gasoline and diesel."
The New Mexico State Legislature, during its first session in 2007, adopted House Joint Memorial 42, "A Joint Memorial Requesting the Attorney General to Investigate the Disparity between the Price of Gasoline and Diesel Fuel" (HJM 42). In response, King directed his staff to review gasoline and diesel fuel prices within the state of New Mexico and the market forces affecting those prices.
The AG and his staff developed a set of questions that were submitted in June 2007 to a number of important participants in the New Mexico petroleum market. The respondents replied to the questions in late July and early August 2007. The staff then developed information relating to the market forces involved in a comparison of that information to the responses submitted by the industry.
Click hereto view the full report.
And in the state of Washington, Attorney General Rob McKenna and University of Washington economist Keith Leffler discussed the results from the first phase of the state's ongoing investigation into gasoline prices on Tuesday, February 5, in Bellevue for the final scheduled stop on what McKenna dubbed the "Gas Gauge" tour.
None of the comments the AG gathered "included facts that would implicate illegal practices within the industry," said the report.
Click hereto view the 2007 Gas Price Study, Phase 1: Fact Finding.
Click hereto watch McKenna and Leffler.
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