Road conditions n STT-STJ vs STX

The same folks that own many, if not most, of the gas stations on St Croix also own many of the grocery stores, don't they?

Ah, this has been a knife in my side since I've been here, here's a part I was working on some time ago when the governor asked to Subpoena these stations.

Here's the piece:

Regarding our retail fuel prices, which are twice as much (or more) than they should be, here are some facts:

HOVENSA is a joint venture of Hess and PDVSA.

HOVENSA President and CEO is Lawrence J. (Larry) Kupfer.
HOVENSA is the largest private employer in the Virgin Islands, it is among the top 10 World's Largest Refineries (Barrels/Day)Yes, top 10 in the WORLD!
The Citco located @ Westfield Ave., Clark New Jersey is within a mile of where Hovensa imports from St. Croix, & is selling regular gasoline RETAIL @$1.40(or 1/2 of what Dominoes/RaceTrack/Exxon/Gasworks..colluding as they are the same price in St. Thomas@ $2.79.9 +/= .01!

President and CEO: Lawrence J. (Larry) Kupfer
HOVENSA is the largest private employer in the Virgin Islands, it is among the top 10 World's Largest Refineries (Barrels/Day)Yes, top 10 in the WORLD!
Why does the governor have to ask the DLCA Subpoena these gas stations?
Why do I have to bring this to light?

The governor & I have the same questions,
Mr. Kupfer, why do you charge us so much for our local rack prices(I know we are not Hess in Port reading, but you can give to the Virgin Islanders where your operation is LOCATED here what you give 2500 miles away, right)?
Or is it our local retailers as larry implies:
Oct. 31, 2008 --
Kupfer said Hovensa is cooperating with the investigation and has nothing to hide. Kupfer showed Chamber members an equation for what gasoline should have cost during the month of September. He added that there could be some gross sales tax or other fee that he may have omitted unintentionally.
The Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs was unable to verify the accuracy of the equation by press time.
To populate the equation, Kupfer said he used only information available in the public domain: figures from the U.S. Department of Energy and the New York Mercantile Exchange, and regular taxes and duties applied in the Territory.
According to Kupfer's math, for September, we should have been able to bring gas into St. Thomas for $2.63, then add an import duty of .16 cents, add a VI fuel tax of .07 cents, then add a distribution and marketing fee of .29 cents (that covers gas stations' cost and taxes and profit), then finally add a gross receipts tax of .13 cents and that brings the retail price to $3.28."

But according to Kupfer, the average price on St. Thomas for a gallon of gasoline was $4.49 in September.
"We are off by about $1.25 per gallon," Kupfer said. "That is a huge difference. Typically in the U.S you don't see much more than 20 cents of difference in the price."

So what is it?
Is it Hovensa that is over charging to local stations, the local stations over charging the customers(they are already colluding, this IS ILLEGAL).

Or is it a bit of both?
We need to get to the bottom of this once & for all!
Gov. John deJongh Jr. this week(Oct. 25, 2008) called on all who purchase their fuel from Hovensa for resale to pass on their savings to Virgin Islands motorists.

WHY Do WE HAVE THE HIGHEST GASOLINE PRICES IN THE US WHEN WE HAVE ONE OF THE TOP 10 LARGEST (in BPD) OIL REFINERIES IN THE WORLD??
Answer that Mr. Kupfer, the governor, myself & the rest of our fellow Virgin islanders want to know WHY!
If it is not Hovensa, tell us who we point this finger at who rapes each & every Virgin islander daily, it`s not just car owners, also those who use safaris & taxis who bear this burden as well.
We all sigh in relief as we fill our cars for $30 instead of $50, but it should be $15, like the rest of the USA is enjoying!
The extra $1000 we are spending annually above what our rates should be could be put towards other bills, or increasing the quality of our lives, not just those whom own gas stations or oil Refineries!

D*** R* St. Thomas