As Democratic US Senate candidate John Fetterman slammed oil companies for price gouging to pad their profits, his opponent Mehmet Oz called the criticism of those same companies “reprehensible.”
While Pennsylvanians filled up their tanks Thursday, paying an average of $4.84 a gallon for gas, ExxonMobile announced they’re on track to hit $18 billion in quarterly profits.
Lt. Governor and US Senate candidate John Fetterman called the number “mind boggling” and said it doesn’t take a genius to see that oil companies are price gouging hard-working consumers.
“These oil and gas companies are keeping prices high for consumers just so they can make literally billions of dollars in profits,” Fetterman said in a statement. “And they are bragging about it to their investors while hard-working Americans pay more and more at the pump. This price gouging bullshit needs to end.”
One person who hasn’t noticed the sky-high prices, Fetterman said, is his Republican opponent, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz.
“My opponent, multi-millionaire celebrity doctor Dr. Oz, surely doesn’t notice these sky high prices,” Fetterman said. “He might not even notice if one of his nine homes went missing. He simply doesn’t get it.”
With gas prices surging nationally, Oz called President Joe Biden’s criticism of profiteering oil and gas companies “reprehensible” during a recent appearance on the right-leaning Rose Unplugged podcast.
“The oil industry, natural gas folks who provide base energy for our nation and its growth are being vilified and they’re being hurt in ways that are invisible to the voter, which is wrong,” Oz told host Rose Tennent.
According to AAA, the current average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas nationally is $4.75.
At this time last year, the average gas price in Pennsylvania was $3.21 per gallon.
Gas prices in Pennsylvania have exceeded the national average — hitting a record high average of $5.07 per gallon last month — since March, when President Joe Biden ordered a ban on Russian oil imports in retaliation for Vladimir Putin’s onslaught in Ukraine.
Pennsylvania’s highest prices are currently in the western part of the state, where a gallon of regular gas is averaging around $4.93 in Armstrong, Beaver, and Greene counties.
Politics
Pennsylvania redesigned its mail-in ballot envelopes amid litigation. Some voters still tripped up
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A form Pennsylvania voters must complete on the outside of mail-in ballot return envelopes has been redesigned, but that did...
Biden makes 4 million more workers eligible for overtime pay
The Biden administration announced a new rule Tuesday to expand overtime pay for around 4 million lower-paid salaried employees nationwide. The...
Malcolm Kenyatta makes history after winning primary for Pa. Auditor General
State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who was first elected to the state House in 2018, won the Democratic nomination for Pa. Auditor General and will...
Local News
What do you know about Wawa? 7 fun facts about Pennsylvania’s beloved convenience store
Wawa has 60 years of Pennsylvania roots, and today the commonwealth’s largest private company has more than 1,000 locations along the east coast....
Conjoined twins from Berks County die at age 62
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations,...