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When a private club that is too cozy with corporations make the rules on consumer protection, guess what happens? The National Conference on Weights and Measures met last week voted to just dump years' worth of proposals and plans to fix the "hot fuel" ripoff.  It reminded me of the old Soviet trick of removing purged bureaucrats from ceremonial photos.

 

Is it hot out? Well, so's your gasoline. You're losing a few cents a gallon each time you fill up at the pump. One senator is paying attention: Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri has reintroduced a bill that would gradually require gas stations to pump gallons that take temperature expansion into account, giving you the same amount of energy in every gallon. Her bill counters last week's cave-in by a group of state regulators, who punted the hot fuel issue under pressure from oil companies and gas station chains.

I figured the vehement reaction of the fuel industry last week, as Costco agreed to sell gasoline adjusted for temperature, was because Costco was the first crack in the industry's united front. I think now I've found the real reason: a court order last month telling the oil industry to cough up all of its documents on the hot fuel issue for a class action lawsuit. If that info goes public in a trial, I'd bet the industry's holier-than-thou protests that hot fuel doesn't really cheat consumers will get blown out the tailpipe.

A retail fuel industry publication sent out this story today, making every argument it could think of against Costco's agreement to sell gasoline that is adjusted for temperature so motorists get the same energy from every gallon they buy. If Costco is only going to do this in a handful of states, for at most a few dozen locations in any state, why is the rest of the industry so scared?

Consumer group applauds Costco for deal to sell 'fair fuel,' ending hot fuel ripoff. Agreement for Costco gas stations would adjust fuel for temperature in several states. Oil companies will be 'making fairness illegal' if they try to stop Costco deal, says Consumer Watchdog.

Great news--the legal paper Daily Journal (subscription barrier) said Friday that the Costco chain, already know for consumer-friendliness, agreed to eliminate the "hot fuel" ripoff at its gasoline stations. Unlike every other gasoline retailer in the U.S., Costco would install new pumps that put a little more gas in every gallon when the fuel temp is above 60 degrees (a savings of at least a few cents a gallon, and a nickel to a dime a gallon in summer, in California and other warm states). It turns out that the story was a tad premature--there are still details being worked out between Costco and lawyers leading a suit against hot fuel. But we think it will happen, just as Oil Watchdog urged Costco to do early last year.

Consumer group letters charge conflict of interest in oil-friendly outcome of California fuel temperature study. Governor Schwarzenegger, Assembly Speaker Bass asked for action to protect consumer fairness.

Documents show political appointees interfered with California Energy Commission study of hot fuel ripoff to protect oil companies. Consumer Watchdog says government staff's consumer-oriented findings were altered by commissioners with ties to oil industry.

Are fairness and transparency in buying and selling just "public perceptions" that are "subjective" and "variable"? Of course not. That's why regulators measure and inspect the scales at your supermarket. So Oilwatchdog is still trying to get those dismissive words and phrases out of a report by the California Energy Commission on the costs and benefits of selling gasoline fairly by accounting for the expansion of fuel at high temperatures. As we said in our most recent letter to the Commission before a showdown vote on March 11:

Consumer Watchdog and Public Citizen have filed a detailed request for public records of the California Energy Commission, seeking communications between its professional staff and a politically appointed member of the commission’s board whose spouse was a state-registered lobbyist for the oil industry. The two groups previously sent a letter charging a conflict of interest by the commissioner, James Boyd, whose spouse, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, is chief operating officer of the Western States Petroleum Association.