This is in response to the editorial for Sept. 8 titled “Wrong policy on gas.” I agree with the editorial writer.

It is wrong to suggest that the Katrina tragedy is entirely to blame for the spike in Maine’s gas prices. As we all should remember, gas prices were already rising prior to Katrina’s devastation. I think most people expected that the loss of refineries would have some effect upon prices once the flow of gasoline slows, but to have several gigantic increases at Maine pumps just days after the hurricane struck is reprehensible.

President Bush and all his friends in the big oil companies could and should work together to lower our gas prices. Like robber barons from 100 years ago, those people exact gluttonous profits at the expense of the middle-income working class and the poor.

How much profit is enough for them?

And where is the president’s leadership? Does he even care about working families – like all the hardworking families here in Maine? Or is he more concerned for his big oil buddies?

I won’t be tricked into believing that the high cost of gas at the pumps is totally based on Katrina’s wrath. Maybe it’s the failed energy policy from the Bush administration that favors 21st-century oil barons.

Clarence Allen Jr., South Paris

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