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LOS ANGELES, Calif. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today called on the Department of Justice's Oil and Gas Price Fraud Working Group to investigate the recent spike in gas prices hitting Californians at the pump.
"Californians have too often been victimized as unscrupulous traders have created or taken advantage of supply disruptions to drive up energy prices," Boxer wrote. "We cannot allow market manipulation by those who would seek to profit off the pain of our families at the p
In the letter, Senator Boxer pointed to published reports this week that cited energy traders saying that the sudden rise in gas prices had "many of the hallmarks of a classic short squeeze." Boxer urged the Oil and Gas Price Fraud Working Group to investigate whether traders colluded to drive up the price paid by California families at the pump.
In her letter, Senator Boxer acknowledged the maintenance issues facing California refineries beginning with the shutdown of Chevron's Richmond refinery in August due to a fire, the power outage at Exxon Mobil's Torrance refinery, and the September shutdown of a Chevron pipeline that supplies crude from the Central Valley to the Bay Area. But noting a pattern of similar maintenance issues at West Coast refineries that led to price spikes earlier this year, Boxer wrote, "it is critical that we ensure that these shutdowns are not part of any broader effort to deliberately keep gasoline supplies tight—and prices high—at the expense of consumers."
