Gas Hike Tied to Romeoville Oil Spill Smells Like Price Gouging

The Enbridge oil spill in Romeoville is oozing upshots at Plainfield gas pumps.

Price upshots, that is.

We can thank the spill for the 15-cent jump in gas prices we've seen at Plainfield gas pumps over the past couple of days, petroleum industry mouthpieces are saying. Gas prices along Route 59 ranged from $2.99 to $3.10 last night.

In case you hadn't heard, possibly as much as 6,000 gallons of crude oil and water gushed from a 2-inch hole in an oil pipe last week, dumping crude into sewers and a retention pond near Illinois 53.

Turns out, that pipe running through our neighbor to the northeast carries a third of the oil imported in the whole country. Industry experts are saying prices hit a six-week high as speculators bite their nails over whether imported oil will keep on flowing from Canada.

But the sources also say the public isn't buying it. They're getting feedback that folks seem to suspect guys who sell gas are using the nearby oil spill as an easy excuse for price gouging.

They wouldn't do that, would they? Ya think?

By the way, don't you kind of wonder if that pipeline runs under Plainfield? Pipeline companies don't make it easy to get local maps. An hourlong Internet goose chase turned up no detailed area maps.

But stay tuned. I'm working on it. I have a call in.