Gas prices spiking in Ohio

I just talked to my sister in Columbus, Ohio. She said the price of gasoline there went from $2.57 per gallon this morning to $3.09 per gallon this evening. A fifty-two cent per gallon rise in under 12 hours.

OK. I get the whole idea of how Katrina could affect gas prices, but it seems outrageous to me that prices would jump that much in one day. No, that's just not credible. You know prices won't immediately drop the same amount when the refineries come back into production. No way. Where are the legal authorities when we need protection as consumers? Oh, wait. I can answer that one. They're somewhere else, 'cause in Albuquerque they apparently don't need to take anything to trial at the moment.