Assembly Bill on Gas Needs Senate Support

Week in, week out, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.’s office labors on with a gasoline price survey. With the Long Island average price for regular unleaded of $2.88 a gallon now, Mr. Thiele’s most recent report noted that the average price on the South Fork on Friday west of Amagansett was 11 cents higher. In Amagansett and Montauk, however, gas was a mind-boggling $3.39, or 51 cents more. As if to rub salt in our wounds, North Fork stations were well below the regional average, at about $2.69. All of this was, Mr. Thiele said, further and ongoing evidence of consumer-unfriendly zone pricing by fuel distributors.

Okay, so the prices of a lot of things are more expensive out here than they need to be, like deli sandwiches, but you can’t make a gallon of gasoline at home the same way you can pack a lunch. That’s why this matters. Gas, like heating oil and electricity, is an essential component of modern life whether we like it or not. It would be nice if gas station owners skipped the bull about higher delivery costs and other malarkey and stopped taking advantage of an all-but-captive market. Those lucky enough to have reason to head to Hampton Bays, for example, can fuel up at a significant savings of as much as $8 to fill a 20-gallon tank.

Back in June, the Assembly passed a bill that Mr. Thiele sponsored following a recommendation from Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman that would outlaw zone pricing. The bill now sits with the Senate Rules Committee, apparently bottled up because of opposition from major oil companies.

It is imperative that the Senate leadership allow a vote. The rule might not solve all the issues that cause higher gas prices here, but it would send a message that someone was watching.