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Huntsman says state to monitor gas prices

big deal,,,, if monitoring only means watch us get ripped off as we now are

Where do I sign up for this job? Good grief--anyone can monitor gas prices by simply watching the posted signs. Way to go Guv!

It's an election year for Huntsman. Releasing a statement like this to the press makes him sound like he is taking action, when in fact all he is doing is "monitoring" the situation. What, really, does that mean?

BIG DEAL!! State officials have been watching and doing nothing since back to Governor Matheson.
This is just another PR attempt by the governor to make us think he feels and understands our pain.
Every time a governor or attorney general has "threatened" to take action, it comes back the same thing; "Sorry, we can't find anything wrong. No laws have been broken. Just sit back and take the gouging."

Same stuff on a different day from a different governor. I'm looking for Shurtleff to weigh in again like his predecessors and say there is nothing he can do either except put the gas companies on notice he too is "watching." I'm sure the companies are quaking in their boots.

Ho-hum; "business" as usual in Utah. Gasoline prices are artificially set - could we just get that through the heads of our state government "monitors". They are just going to wait until it blows over and then on to the next crisis. Just how dumb do you think people are?

If you don't like the price of something, stop buying it!

This seems to be the only product where producers get yelled at for charging what the market will bear. If I had a store, I would charge as much as possible to make as much money as possible. Isn't that the point? If people didn't like it, they wouldn't pay my prices and I would go out of business or be forced to lower prices. Econ 101 stuff here.

Walk, ride your bike, take the bus, stay home, or pay what it costs. Why would someone lower their price if you are willing to pay current prices?

I'm so relieved that the state is monitoring the situation! My wallet and I feel better already!

Phew....that was a close one!

The Gov. needs to think about this an he considers this 'green' position on energy. Utah could have a great economic boost from oil shale and drilling, not to mention nuclear power generation. He needs to stop pandering the a minority opinion and do what is necessary for the people of Utah.

Go back and check out the past several months and you'll see our prices would increase right along with the crud increases, NOT slightly behind! Then of course we lag behind when it comes to lowering those same prices! Odd.....

Let�s address Econ 101 issues. The first issue is competition in the market. Competition in fact helps lower prices because a gas station owner would want to illicit more sales with a lower price. Competition is not at work here. What would happen if Chevron went to $3.86 a gallon.

A second issue is ethics. Economists are notorious for not addressing ethics (or the lack thereof) as it pertains to prices. A classic anecdote is the cost of a snow shovel in a blizzard where you are the only store with snow shovels. What would you do with the price? You have already answered the question.

I do agree that the only way to fix the problem is not buy fuel. The governor�s office is going to do anything and most government agencies don�t have the power to. There are some alternatives which you do discuss but for the most part they are neither realistic nor long-term as a whole. I would love the government to cut to the chase and address the true underlying issues. Rather they will continue to adhere to the marketing spin of �we are monitoring the situation.� Yeah, whatever.

Its called price fixing. Which last I checked was illegal. GET OFF YOUR BUTT HUNTSMAN. YOU TALK TO MUCH! Actions speak louder than words.

n. [L. collusio: cf. F. collusion. See Collude.]
1. A secret agreement and cooperation for a fraudulent or deceitful purpose; a playing into each other's hands; deceit; fraud; cunning.
2. (Law) An agreement between two or more persons to defraud a person of his rights, by the forms of law, or to obtain an object forbidden by law.

Huntsman and the State are watching the situation. Excuse me while I LOL. Ho, ho, ho. Hee, hee, hee. Ha, ha, ha ...

Mr. Peacok's comments are disingenuous at best. His reasoning smacks of the old saying that if a person stands with one foot in the snow and the other on a bed of hot coals he should be comfortable. Purely and simply, the Utah petroleum industry is gouging consumers. We have to buy some of their gasoline but we don't have to buy the over-price groceries and goodies they peddle from their convenience stores. The stores are huge profit centers. If they are going to gouge us at the pump let's at least stop patronizing their stores.

Once being a native of Utah but now a foreigner, I marvel at the price of gas whenever I visit the great state. Back east here where I live (much higher cost of living than in Utah), I just got gas for $3.57 a gallon. Of course, I coud have gone 5 miles farther east on the same road and paid $3.84. Not only is the price of gas artifically high in Utah, it is maintained artifically even with only a few cents difference between stations (except in Utah County where it is extremely rare to see any difference in price between stations).

Didn't the governor already "monitor and analyze" the situation last time we were stuck paying higher gas prices than the national average? It's obvious that he either has no ability to affect pricing or his office isn't really going to do anything about it. It's outrageous that we have our own refineries and a near source of oil. We should have the lowest prices of anyone. I disagree that store are the primary beneficiaries of the profits. Gasoline is probably their lowest margin product. In situations where it is possible, our only option is to move to alternative fuels or cut back on travel.

Where was the Gov "monitoring" the situation in May when we had the one of lowest prices in the nation? If you don't like the price of gas - why did you buy that huge truck or SUV that everyone seems to love? If everyone in Utah didn't have one, we wouldn't have high gas prices.

This governor says things like this just for their political appeal. It is an election year.

When he first ran for office four years ago, during a press conference on the hill overlooking the state prison, he "suggested" that the state should consider moving the prison away from Salt Lake County. After the election, a small study was done and revealed what everyone already knew: the move would cost a lot of money. So we haven't heard from him since about this particular suggestion.

Then, after the legislature dismissed in April, he "suggested" that Utah's liquor laws might require review at the next legislature. He didn't suggest this while the legislature was in session, nor did he do so at any time prior to this year. The legislature will not meet again until after the coming election.

Now, again, he makes an empty statement about what many consider the issue of the day: gasoline prices. Again, the suggestion comes without any specifics.

There is a pattern here.

It's nice that the Guv is watching the situations now. Gas prices will finally start going down in Utah and he will take the credit for taking action by "watching" the prices.

I moved 3 blocks away from my work, and now only fill up my corolla once a month. 45 buck a month on gas. this is my way of STICKING it to the gas companies.