The highest gas prices in the country today are in Chicago and Long Island, New York. In both places the average was $4.07 per gallon. U.S Senator Dick Durbin was in Chicago to discuss the problem.
Durbin stood in front of a BP gas station in the South Loop, next to the sign offering a gallon of regular for 4.25.
DURBIN: The 5 largest oil companies in 2007 had profits of 103 billion dollars. That’s 2 billion dollars a week. profit taking by the oil companies is running these gasoline prices up. It just isn’t the price of a barrel of crude oil. It’s the profit taking.
Durbin called for the president to sit down with oil company chiefs and say: enough. And last month Durbin sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking them to look into why fuel prices and profits were increasing at this rate. Last week, the FTC agreed to begin an investigation.