Why are gas prices up to 30 cents/gal. higher here?

Dear editor:

I've lived here in Mountain Home for many years and given the recent fluctuation in gas prices, I'd like for you to answer one question for me.  Actually, I'd like for the gas station owners in Mountain Home to explain to the local consumers why we have to pay 30 cents more per gallon than folks living in Boise. 

Maybe I've been misinformed, but my friends and family that live in the eastern part of the state, have told me that the fuel delivered to Boise comes direct from the refinery in Salt Lake City, which is piped up to a distribution point near Pocatello.  If this is indeed the fact, then why would we in Mountain Home have to pay more for our gas than those in Boise, when the same trucks delivering from Pocatello to Boise must drive right by Mountain Home. 

As usual, Mountain Home typically leads the entire state in having the highest gas prices.  I refuse to fill up my autos in this town and will only do so when I go to Boise, because I honestly don't believe the local gas station owners are being honest about their profits and are in collusion on price fixing. 

Can you provide the local consumers with fact and not fiction concerning this significant price difference?   

Brian Dudding

(Editor's note: Actually, it would be almost impossible for us to get the data we'd need to explain this, since we don't have a power of subpoena, but when agencies such as the state attorney general's office have conducted investigations in the past they have found no collusion to fix prices. Beyond that, if you've got a big tank, it has seemed in the last week or so that you actually could save money by driving to Boise and back. But keep in mind local retailers usually only make a few cents per gallon profit above what they are charged, so my guess is the problem is probably at the next level up. But your complaint is a pretty common one around here these days.)