Letters to the Editor for Thursday — August 21, 2003

• Valid points; but price fixing isn’t one of them

• Come to Hawai‘i

Valid points; but price fixing isn’t one of them

The article by John Gordon appearing in the Aug. 14 Forum makes a number of valid points about the economic problems affecting the pricing of gasoline in Hawai‘i. It is of great concern to all consumers that the cost of our fuel is so high particularly on the neighbor islands.

Mr. Gordon, however, stumbles a bit when he states that the industry is operating in a price-fixing environment with no competition between the producers and that this “would certainly seem illegal to me”. An extensive review of pricing of gasoline in our state was recently made by eminent counsel retained by the state and it was concluded that a legal proceeding for anti-trust violations could not be recommended.

Under American anti-trust laws price fixing between competitors is a violation. However, to establish the violation it must be shown that there was an actual or implicit agreement by the competitors. The existence of uniform prices, by itself, does not constitute an offense.

Mr. Gordon’s article indicates that one of the two refineries operating in Hawaii is a lower cost operator than the other. This is a pattern that is replicated in many other industries and locations. In these cases it is not illegal for the lower cost producer to decide to utilize the price policies set by the other producer, and to limit its competitive actions to functions like quality and service. This could be the optimum course for such producer to maximize its profits. Earning a profit is not illegal.

The conclusion expressed in the Gordon article may well be accurate: “that if something is going to be done about fuel prices” the source must be an entity outside the industry and can only be government. If profits of the refinery operators and the burden on consumers are deemed excessive, government regulation, although it has many troublesome features, might be compelled.

Walter Lewis

Princeville

Come to Hawai‘i

What a pity Mr. Kleckner is so uninformed about the facts on Hawai‘i. I really think he needs to actually come on “a ‘fact-finding’ mission—to Hawai‘i.”

Here he would find farmers whose livelihoods have been ruined by the GE papayannot a “lie” as he would like to attribute to Ms. Bondera, but farmers willing to speak up about the unmet promises of the biotech industry, many of whom have been featured in our local press.

His comment, “Who do you trust morenthe professional protestors at Greenpeace or the Ph.D. researchers employed by an Ivy League university?” is totally immaterial to this situation and a very misleading statement. Ms Bondera, like most of us farmers here in Hawai‘i, is a full-time farmer, not a “professional protestor for Greenpeace”. We do not have time to be protestors except when it comes to protecting our livelihood and way of life. Ph.D. researchers at Ivy League universities have a vested interest in promoting their new technology, not the least being their funding from major corporations in the major agri-business field. Should WE, as farmers, trust people paid to do research by companies that want to force us to buy their patented seed and their noxious chemicals?

As for the GE field trials in the Hawaiian islands, if one looks at facts instead of propaganda you will find that several companies have been fined many thousands of dollars for ignoring their own safety rules, hardly the “faithfully, I might add” of Mr. Klecker’s comment.

We would welcome him coming on a fact-finding tour of Hawai‘i. He needs to see the reality of what is in danger of happening to our rural island paradise.

Christine Sheppard

Honaunau HI