GAS PRICES MAY SPUR FEDERAL PROBE

A federal lawmaker said last week he would ask the Justice Dept. to investigate the slow-to-drop gas station prices if there is any evidence the businesses are falsely keeping pump prices high to fatten their margins.

Rep. Peter King, noting the steep drop in the price of crude oil and the much smaller decline in the price of gas at the pump, said he would ask for the probe if he discovered any price gouging by station owners.

Last week The Post reported that the price of oil had dropped 15 percent from its July 11 high but that gas prices, on average, had slipped just 3 percent.

A spokesman for an industry group that represents about 2,200 gas-station owners admitted that his members were slow to drop the prices – but said the delay, which fattens their profits, was necessary because many were suffering under razor-thin profit margins.

“It is too quick to cry collusion, but on the other hand it can’t be ruled out,” the congressman told The Post. “If evidence emerges of collusion – and price gouging – civil action would be taken, and we’d also urge the Justice Department to take action,” the Long Island Republican said. “Price fixing carries severe penalties.”

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton blames the Bush White House’s lack of leadership for high energy prices, saying Republicans refuse to back legislation that protects consumers from shady companies in the market.

But representatives of the nation’s 160,000 dealers say many station owners are hurting, so a few extra pennies that puff up the price of a gallon at the pump should be excused.

“Some of our members were selling at cost these past few months, so if they are not passing along a few pennies from the drop in prices, it is only peanuts,” says Ralph Bombardiere, executive director of the 3,500 member New York State Association of Service Stations and Repair Shops.

Dan Gilligan, president of the8,000 member Petroleum Dealers Association of America, said his members, which operate about 40,000 gas stations across the nation, are playing fair, noting that historically the gap between the prices in crude and at the pump has always narrowed over a two to three week period. “I really doubt if that is any different today,” he adds. “It is just the way competitive markets work.”

Bombardiere says that some members are still sitting on supplies that were bought 90 days ago – when crude prices were higher. In the meantime, his members are “getting killed,” Bombardiere says. “Over the last year I have seen more of my members throwing in the keys and getting out of their stations,” he adds.