REPORT: Ohio families feel pain at the pump this holiday while oil companies rake in record profits

Sherrod released a report on Ohio's gas crisis last weekend and offered ways to reduce costs to consumers.

The report was unveiled to the media and local residents at a news conference in Youngstown on Sunday, May 28.

The report finds that:

• Compared to 2000, the average two-car family in Ohio will pay approximately $1,563 more for gas this year. The indirect costs of higher energy prices, in the form of higher costs for goods and services, will cost the typical family another $1400, making for a total cost of $2963.


• In 2001, it took a minimum wage worker in Ohio 5.4 hours to earn enough to fill their gas tank.  In May 2006, it would take almost twice as long, 10.7 hours of work, to fill a single tank of gas.


• Last year, the top six oil companies took in profits of $113 billion. Meanwhile, oil and gas companies have spent nearly $450 million in the last six years to protect their interests in Washington. In the course of his career, Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine has received $338,817 in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry.

In the past month, gas prices shot past $3 per gallon in many parts of the country. Some analysts now predict that prices at the pump could hit $5 by mid-summer.

Click here to read the full report.

05/30/2006 / Permalink / Economy, gas, (all tags)