Published: September 16, 2008 09:10 pm         

McGraw to explain Beckley gas prices Sept. 25

Ever wonder why your friends and relatives in other parts of West Virginia consistently pay as much as 20 cents less per gallon for gasoline than motorists do in Beckley?

The question has annoyed Beckley area drivers for some time now and gets repeated each time the figures on the marquees go up another notch.

Next week, state Attorney General Darrell McGraw plans to explain the differences in fuel prices to the Raleigh County Commission on Aging, accepting an invitation by Delegate Mel Kessler, D-Raleigh.

His talk is set for 11 a.m. Sept. 25 at the commission on aging headquarters in Beckley.

“We’ve always been concerned about being able to buy gas in Rainelle for 20 cents less,” Kessler said Tuesday, shortly after McGraw agreed to address a Beckley audience.

“Any time we complained, instead of ours getting lower, Rainelle’s goes up.”

Kessler initially asked McGraw to come to Beckley this month when lawmakers went to Bridgeport for September interims.

“I called him before this latest surge in prices,” the freshman delegate said.

“We were in Bridgeport. You could buy gas there for $3.63 while it was $3.79 here.”

Kessler said he was advised by the attorney general that prices reflect trade agreements that affect 92 percent of the oil industry and that prices were set by computer in Houston.

“You need to come here and make an explanation to the people,” Kessler said he told McGraw.

Kessler said the rising fuel prices impose a burden on the Commission on Aging as well as others who rely on transportation.

With winter just a months off and colder temperatures likely to arrive even sooner, Kessler said he worries about the likelihood of West Virginians not being able to afford heating fuel.

“I’m afraid there will be numerous homes burn down this year and people’s lives taken because of them trying to heat their houses with whatever source they can find,” he said.

“The price of heating oil is already up and some are claiming there is a shortage.”

Kessler said he isn’t sure if anything can be done about higher gasoline costs in this area, “but at least we can try.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com