News
Gas
continued from page 1
The West Coast switches to a more expen-
sive fuel blend in summer to fight pollution
but oil analysts have blamed the price spike
on the BP refinery outage and maintenance
work at several California refineries.
Cantwell referenced the BP fire in her let-
ter, noting it took a significant amount of
refining capacity offline.
``But that shutdown alone should not have
resulted in the lowest gasoline inventory
levels in history unless other West Coast
refiners failed to undertake actions that
could have made up for the supply short-
ages resulting from the Cherry Point acci-
On Monday, the AAA auto club reported the
average price of a gallon of gasoline in
Washington State was $4.28 — 69 cents higher
than the national average
dent,’’ she said. ``The reasons why six other
West Coast refineries simultaneously
reduced operations are not well-document-
ed.’’
She asked the commission to use its regu-
latory authority to ``ensure that Washington
state consumers are not subject to `any
manipulative or deceptive device or con-
trivance’ that could be resulting in unjustifi-
ably high gasoline prices.’’
She also directed the FTC to the McCul-
lough Research report, which she said
``questions whether today’s historically low
gasoline inventories were really just the
inevitable result of the BP refinery fire and
unfortunately timed refinery maintenance
shutdowns.’’
``High gasoline prices are contributing to
significant economic pain for consumers
and businesses in Washington state and are
jeopardizing our fragile economic recov-
ery,’’ Cantwell concluded.
Arena
continued from page 1
east while the ``majority of Port of Seattle
operations are west of 1st Avenue S — Port
of Seattle operations are effectively separat-
ed from event traffic.’’
But detractors of the arena proposal say
the study overlooks some key factors,
including that traffic on event days current-
ly housed at Safeco and CenturyLink begins
around 3 p.m. and that trucks leaving the
port terminals don’t hit the road until about
5 p.m.
Also troubling for Dave Gering — execu-
Page 4 The Seattle Skanner
June 13, 2012
ONLINE
— Dave Gering, executive director of Manufacturing Industrial
Council of Seattle
tive director of Manufacturing Industrial
Council of Seattle — is the thought of
developing an industrial district into a more
retail and entertainment focused area.
``The arena developer has been amazing-
ly candid...This is not just about an arena.
This is about changing Sodo,’’ Gering said.
``A new land use pattern in Sodo not only is
posing a threat to the cargo sector, it will
have enormous public costs for the side-
walks that aren’t there, the drainage that
isn’t there.’’
Developing the area, they argued, would
increase speculative value of the land,
which may force business owners reliant on
cheaper land to leave.
theskannermobile.com
‘A new land use pattern in Sodo not only is
posing a threat to the cargo sector, it will have
enormous public costs for the sidewalks that
aren’t there, the drainage that isn’t there’
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group. The amount of public support would
be $200 million if an NBA and NHL fran-
chise moved here.
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and King
County Executive Dow Constantine are
backing the plan, saying that bringing the
sports franchises would create jobs and as
well as the private investment Hansen’s
group promises.
The traffic study found that events at the
arena would not coincide with regular port
container terminal operations because most
would be in the evening, while one of the
main gates at the port wraps up operation
around 4:30 p.m.
The study also found that event traffic
would be on 1st Avenue and roads to the