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CNN Live Sunday
Interview With Mantill Williams
Aired February 16, 2003 - 18:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, an investigation that we've been telling you about. AAA is a fairly conservative organization and so when they released a report saying consumers are basically getting hosed at the gas pump, we stood up and we took notice.
According to a AAA self-serve regular, well self-serve regular is up 14 cents from last month at about $1.70 a gallon but that is 51 cents higher than this time last year.
Let's take that a step further. The Department of Energy shows a barrel of oil up only 15 cents from last month and up more than $11 from this time last year. Are escalating gas prices a rip off, and if so, what can we do about it?
Well they've got us over a barrel, so to speak, and that's why we've asked AAA spokesman Mantill Williams to join us tonight. Mantill, thanks for being here.
MANTILL WILLIAMS, AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSN.: Good evening, Carol, how are you doing?
LIN: I'm doing just fine. How -- how is it that prices are so high? I mean what do you think has happened? How can it be justified?
WILLIAMS: Well, now that's the question we're asking. We don't think there really is a justification. What we think is merely based on fear and speculation of a possible war with Iraq and a possible terrorist attack. Keep I mind prices now are the highest they've ever been in the month of February and we're just a few cents away from having the highest prices ever recorded.
Now, keep in mind the last time we had prices this -- on this were in June of 2001, and Carol we were dealing with three things. We were dealing with the winter grade to summer grade transfer. We were dealing with a number of refinery fires, and we were also dealing with the summer driving season.
None of those situations exist. None of those scenarios exist and, as you said there, the price of crude oil doesn't even justify these type of prices.
LIN: So, is it the gasoline companies, are they ripping us off, taking advantage of the fact of this political climate we may be going to war? WILLIAMS: Well, we have found no evidence of "gouging" but it is getting uncomfortably close to that and what we're saying is AAA stands to support any type of government action that might go after, you know, someone in the industry if they do try to take advantage of their alerts and some of the national (unintelligible) that we're under right now.
LIN: How are you going to try to prove it?
WILLIAMS: Well, we're just saying that we stand to support any type of government investigation. AAA ourself, we're not a government body. We don't investigate. We're just saying when you look at the crude oil prices it doesn't seem to justify the high prices that we're paying right now.
LIN: All right, because isn't it true, Mantill, that the companies are actually -- the gas that's being sold today was actually bought six months ago when prices were a lot lower, so it's not as if, you know, you're hearing it's $35 a barrel now and therefore prices go up immediately at the price. It didn't cost them that much to actually pay for the gas that we're buying now, right?
WILLIAMS: That is absolutely correct. The refinery, what they're doing right now with the gasoline that we're buying on the retail level, it was around $30 a barrel. That was the crude oil prices, so the bottom line is the crude oil that they are refining right now should not be showing up on the retail level in these higher prices.
LIN: All right, Mantill Williams, something is smelling at the gas pump and it's not the diesel fuel. Thank you very much.
WILLIAMS: OK, thank you.
LIN: All right, you heard it here right on CNN, AAA asking for a government investigation.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 16, 2003 - 18:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, an investigation that we've been telling you about. AAA is a fairly conservative organization and so when they released a report saying consumers are basically getting hosed at the gas pump, we stood up and we took notice.
According to a AAA self-serve regular, well self-serve regular is up 14 cents from last month at about $1.70 a gallon but that is 51 cents higher than this time last year.
Let's take that a step further. The Department of Energy shows a barrel of oil up only 15 cents from last month and up more than $11 from this time last year. Are escalating gas prices a rip off, and if so, what can we do about it?
Well they've got us over a barrel, so to speak, and that's why we've asked AAA spokesman Mantill Williams to join us tonight. Mantill, thanks for being here.
MANTILL WILLIAMS, AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSN.: Good evening, Carol, how are you doing?
LIN: I'm doing just fine. How -- how is it that prices are so high? I mean what do you think has happened? How can it be justified?
WILLIAMS: Well, now that's the question we're asking. We don't think there really is a justification. What we think is merely based on fear and speculation of a possible war with Iraq and a possible terrorist attack. Keep I mind prices now are the highest they've ever been in the month of February and we're just a few cents away from having the highest prices ever recorded.
Now, keep in mind the last time we had prices this -- on this were in June of 2001, and Carol we were dealing with three things. We were dealing with the winter grade to summer grade transfer. We were dealing with a number of refinery fires, and we were also dealing with the summer driving season.
None of those situations exist. None of those scenarios exist and, as you said there, the price of crude oil doesn't even justify these type of prices.
LIN: So, is it the gasoline companies, are they ripping us off, taking advantage of the fact of this political climate we may be going to war? WILLIAMS: Well, we have found no evidence of "gouging" but it is getting uncomfortably close to that and what we're saying is AAA stands to support any type of government action that might go after, you know, someone in the industry if they do try to take advantage of their alerts and some of the national (unintelligible) that we're under right now.
LIN: How are you going to try to prove it?
WILLIAMS: Well, we're just saying that we stand to support any type of government investigation. AAA ourself, we're not a government body. We don't investigate. We're just saying when you look at the crude oil prices it doesn't seem to justify the high prices that we're paying right now.
LIN: All right, because isn't it true, Mantill, that the companies are actually -- the gas that's being sold today was actually bought six months ago when prices were a lot lower, so it's not as if, you know, you're hearing it's $35 a barrel now and therefore prices go up immediately at the price. It didn't cost them that much to actually pay for the gas that we're buying now, right?
WILLIAMS: That is absolutely correct. The refinery, what they're doing right now with the gasoline that we're buying on the retail level, it was around $30 a barrel. That was the crude oil prices, so the bottom line is the crude oil that they are refining right now should not be showing up on the retail level in these higher prices.
LIN: All right, Mantill Williams, something is smelling at the gas pump and it's not the diesel fuel. Thank you very much.
WILLIAMS: OK, thank you.
LIN: All right, you heard it here right on CNN, AAA asking for a government investigation.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
