Skepticism reigns at pump over price-fixing settlement
| • | State, oil companies settle anti-trust lawsuit |
| • | Gas settlement likely to go to highway fund |
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
The cynicism poured out of Jim Kershner's mouth nearly as fast as he could pump his 1984 Camaro full of premium unleaded gas, at $1.81 a gallon.
The settlement yesterday between the state and several major oil companies over alleged price fixing did nothing to dissuade
Kershner from his steadfast belief that he and the rest of Hawai'i's consumers will forever pay some of the highest gas prices in America.
"The government may collect fines, but where will it all go?" said Kershner, a 47-year-old computer engineer from Makiki. "The attorneys will wind up with the money and the Islands will continue to be ripped off. I'm an eternal skeptic because it's been that way for a long, long, long time."
It's an attitude that he and other gas customers have developed over the years, watching prices fluctuate and rise, often among the highest in the nation. And it's an attitude that's been cemented by political efforts to hold hearings and file lawsuits that Kershner and others say never seem to result in substantial changes in how much they pay at the pump.
Around the Islands yesterday, consumers, for the most part, remained settled in their resignation that things such as the high price of gas are just part of the backdrop to living in Hawai'i.
"What do they say — it's the price we pay for paradise," said King Anness, 53. "I've lived here 33 years, and gas has always been high. The big companies have gotten away with it all these years and they're going to keep getting away with it."
Drew Tucker fitted a gas nozzle into his black Honda Shadow Spirit motorcycle, lifted up his green Arnette sunglasses and squinted at the digital readout at pump No. 1 at a Chevron station in Kaimuki.
"Three dollars for 1.59 gallons of gas," said Tucker, a 32-year-old first mate on his family's catamaran business. "Damn. How's that? It would be nice if prices went down, but I don't see it happening."
That means drivers such as Neal Blau pay the going rate.
Retired at the age of 45 after investing wisely, Blau buys cars — such as the 1985 blue Camaro he picked up for $600 — fixes them up and resells them at a profit.
"I gotta have gas," he said. "So I just pay it. I've got no choice, because I need it. One way or another you gotta pay what they ask. If not, catch the bus."
Joey Viernes does. Every day, in fact, because he drives the bus throughout Wai'anae.
Viernes, 37, lives in Makiki and owns a 2001 white Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle that costs him $40 to fill. So he keeps an eye on gas prices around O'ahu and wonders how they can fluctuate so wildly from community to community.
If there is no price fixing, he said, why do different companies all seem to vary their prices the same by neighborhood income level?
"How come?" he said. "There's something wrong."
If divisions of Chevron, Shell, Texaco, Unocal and Tosco Corp. end up paying millions in settlement money, Craig Garcia knows exactly where it should go.
"Me. I want it," he said, jamming his thumb repeatedly and enthusiastically into his chest.
"Tell them I want my money back," said Garcia, a 34-year-old medical insurance salesman from Kane'ohe, as he pumped $40 of supreme into his 2000 Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle. "I've spent a lot of money. Now I want some back. Don't give the money to the state. We always pay, pay, pay. That's all we ever do in Hawai'i. Pay, pay, pay."
Those kinds of sentiments are understandable to Ralph Norton. They're just not realistic, said the 51-year-old engineer from Mission Viejo, Calif., who is in Hawai'i working with the processing plants belonging to both Tesoro and Chevron.
Norton paused long enough between filling up his rented gray Mustang convertible to offer a minority-held view of gasoline business and politics in Hawai'i.
"I know the business," he said. "And there are definitely inherent costs of making petroleum here."
The settlement is less an admission of wrongdoing than the cost to settle a $2 billion anti-trust suit, Norton said.
"It's political," he said. "There is no collusion or price fixing. Settling the lawsuit is just the easiest thing to make everyone happy."
Even the skeptics yesterday showed the odd sign of optimism.
A gallon of supreme for $1.87 seemed relatively cheap to Cheryl Galace, a 24-year-old biology sophomore at the University of Hawai'i.
"I'm happy," she said. "I'm not complaining because I'm from Maui. And I'm used to paying $2.35."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
