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FTC To Investigate Kentucky's High Gas Prices

After years of complaints and calls for investigations from consumers, Kentucky's fluctuating gas prices are now being investigated in Washington. The Federal Trade Commission is looking into the state's single supply of gasoline, a monopoly by Marathon Oil.

Spokeswoman Alison Martin says Attorney General Jack Conway and Governor Beshear had a study done on the impact of artificially high prices on Kentucky consumers and have turned its data over to the FTC. The Commission originally declined to look into the situation but that changed with the appointment of a new chair, Edith Ramirez, earlier this year.

Martin says despite public outcry the last several years, the state's regular sudden price hikes don't qualify as actual "price gouging" that could be acted on during a statewide emergency.