State vows to fight gas gouging

As prices at some gas stations in North Florida spiked to over $5.50 a gallon in the wake of Hurricane Ike, the state's consumer services chief pledged to investigate and subpoena records to check for price gouging.

Charles Bronson, who runs the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said there is no gas shortage in Florida. He added that some smaller, independent gas stations may temporarily run out of gas, but he said they should be replenished soon.

"There's plenty of fuel available for quite a number of days," Bronson said. "I can assure you if anyone has upped the price of fuel to their personal advantage over the public, we're going to take them to court in the fullest extent of the law and fine them accordingly and charge them if we find they've been price gouging."

- Jennifer Liberto, Times staff writer