COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi, Chairman JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Arkansas EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts QUENTIN N. BURDICK, North Dakota ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia JOHN V. TUNNEY, California ROMAN L. HRUSKA, Nebraska HUGH SCOTT, Pennsylvania STROM THURMOND, South Carolina CHARLES McC. MATHIAS, JR., Maryland SUBCOMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATIVE PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts, Chairman PHILIP A. HART, Michigan QUENTIN N. BURDICK, North Dakota STROM THURMOND, South Carolina CHARLES MCC. MATHIAS, JR., Maryland EDWARD J. GURNEY, Florida THOMAS M. SUSMAN, Counsel (II) CONTENTS Weber, John W., Federal Energy Office, Assistant Administrator for David T. Brewster, Independent Oilmen's Association_‒‒‒‒ Harold Murphy, Jr., Baystate Gasoline Retailers Association___ Sidney Benson, gasoline station operator, Roxbury, Mass. Robert McCarthy, gasoline station operator, Newton, Mass----- 48 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1974 SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATIVE PRACTICE Boston, Mass. The subcommittee met at 9:30 a.m., pursuant to call, at John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Boston, Mass., Hon. Edward M. Kennedy presiding. Present: Senator Edward M. Kennedy. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY Senator KENNEDY. I am pleased to open this hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure of the Senate Judiciary Committee into the gasoline situation in Massachusetts. I am even more pleased that in response to our requests, in response to the questions I submitted to the FEO in relation to these hearings, and in response to the clamor of citizens and station operators across the State, we have received a 12.9 million emergency allocation for gasoline. If this is to be the response, I intend to call gasoline hearings every Saturday morning. The Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973 states, among other requirements, that regulations implementing the law "shall provide for" "equitable distribution of . . . refined petroleum products at equitable prices among all regions and areas of the United States. This hearing is specifically designed to help answer the question: "Is Massachusetts being treated fairly in the supply it is receiving and in the prices its citizens are having to pay for gasoline and other fuels?" From consumers, from our State representatives, from car owners, and from service station owners, the answer has been a strong "no." They have seen, on television, gasoline station operators from Georgia saying that they have an overabundance of gasoline. They have seen the photos of other States where there are no lines, where the supplies seem to meet the demand, regardless what percentage the Federal Office claims that its allocation system is providing. More important, we have seen the lines in Boston, in Newton, in Springfield, and on the Cape, as I traveled around the State for 2 weeks in January. Even then, the gasoline situation was growing taut. In the past 5 weeks, since the gasoline allocation system that was designed (1) |