Big Oil fee restriction does not apply to middlemen: Md. appeals court
A 1970s-era law to protect independent gas station owners financially against their big oil company suppliers provides no safeguard when the alleged price gouger is the middleman delivering the fuel, Maryland’s second highest court ruled Wednesday in calling the 40-year-old statute a likely “anachronism.” The Court of Special Appeals’ reported 3-0 decision was a defeat […]
Lawsuit over Md. groundwater pollution settled
There is a settlement in a civil lawsuit alleging groundwater pollution from a Frederick County gas station.
Howard County considers gas station restrictions
COLUMBIA — Howard County planning officials are considering whether to place limits on new gas stations built in the county. WBAL Radio reports the planning board is holding a hearing Thursday night on a proposal that would prevent business with more than four gas pumps from being built within 1,000 feet of an existing station. […]
Soaring oil prices don’t cause pain at pump
NEW YORK — Oil prices are soaring again, but motorists don’t need to worry — yet. The price of crude has jumped 22 percent since the beginning of October and is nearing $100 a barrel. For most of the summer, oil prices drifted lower on fears that the U.S. was headed toward another recession. But […]
Man convicted in Towson murder-for-hire plot gets life
BEL AIR — A jury has sentenced a man convicted of killing a Towson gas station owner in a murder-for-hire plot to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The sentence for 29-year-old Walter Bishop Jr. was handed down on Wednesday in Harford County Circuit Court. Bishop was convicted last month of first degree […]
Oil falls over 2 percent on weak U.S. jobs report
NEW YORK — Oil tumbled more than 2 percent Friday, giving up most of its gains for the week after the latest government data showed hiring in the U.S. is at a virtual standstill. The Labor Department said that employers added the fewest jobs in nine months and the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent […]
Competition, other factors involved in setting gasoline prices
The Carroll Independent Fuel station down the road may sell its gas for $3.89 a gallon, but Paul Goeller is selling fuel at his Three Brothers Gas & Go station on Frederick Avenue for $3.79. With gas prices at most of his competitors over the $4 mark, Goeller has to restock his gas station faster […]
Price of oil only one part of price of gasoline
When Jay Ricker, owner of the BP gas station off Interstate 70 in Plainfield, Ind., set the price of unleaded gasoline at $3.44 per gallon on Monday of last week, it was 4 cents higher than the Friday before. That alone might have been irritating to drivers paying the highest gas prices in more than […]
Of wells and hot tubs at the Exxon trial
Two notes from observing testimony the last few days in Jacksonville residents’ mass-action lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. stemming from a 25,000-plus-gallon gas station leak in 2006. – One argument I do not remember hearing during the first trial regarding possible contamination concerned the depth of drinking wells. Dr. Richard K. Spruill, a hydrogeologist and […]
Lawsuits progress in two gas station leaks
A trial in the second mass-action lawsuit stemming from a major 2006 gasoline leak at a Jacksonville gas station, set for early next month, has been postponed. Theodore M. Flerlage Jr., the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the start date has been pushed back to Nov. 29 from Oct. 6 in Baltimore County Circuit […]