Edwards Wants Probe of High Gas Prices

05/31/2007

By RACHEL KONRAD
The Associated Press
May 31, 2007


SAN FRANCISCO -- Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards says a wave of mergers in the oil industry should be investigated by the Justice Department to see what impact they have had on soaring gasoline prices.

During a campaign stop in Silicon Valley Thursday, Edwards planned to berate the oil industry for "anticompetitive actions" and outline an energy plan he says would reduce oil imports "and get us on a path to be virtually petroleum-free within a generation."

"Vertically integrated companies like Exxon Mobil own every step of the production process _ from extraction to refining to sale at the pump, enabling them to foreclose competition," says an outline of Edward's energy plan.

Edwards' call for a major shift away from oil use would include, according to the document:

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