Editor:
The price of gasoline in Rio Arriba and Taos Counties is usually very high as compared with Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
From first hand conversations with gas station owners and others, we find that only one “distributor” of gasoline is available for Taos or Rio Arriba. What that means is they have a monopoly. In economic terms that means they are the “only source” and, therefore, they can set their own price.
Compare these companies to the electric company or the telephone companies. These companies are regulated by the Corporation Regulation Commission (PRC) because of their monopolistic nature.
Therefore, if gasoline distributors have a monopoly, I suggest they should be regulated. I, therefore, implore that newly elected PRC member Jerome Block to tackle this problem that has plagued the New Mexico Attorneys General and other do-gooders. The AG and others simply have no knowledge of economics. How shameful.
Archie Velarde
Ojo Sarco