Lawsuits claim 'hot fuel' costing motorists

ATLANTA -- It's not just increased demand that sends summertime gasoline prices soaring. It's also the increased temperature.

As the temperature rises, liquid gasoline expands and the amount of energy in each gallon drops. Because gas is priced at a 60-degree standard and gas pumps don't adjust for any temperature changes, motorists often get less bang for their buck in warmer weather.

Consumer watchdog groups warn that the temperature increase could end up costing consumers between 3 and 9 cents a gallon at the pump.

The effect could cost U.S. drivers more than $1.5 billion in the summertime, including $228 million to drivers in California alone, according to the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, which recently addressed it in hearings. The committee's chair, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has long been an advocate on the issue and has new clout as a member of the congressional majority.

Gas retailers oppose forcing stations to adjust their pumps as costly, and asked Kucinich to call off the hearings and wait for more studies.

The issue has driven trial lawyers to fire off as many as 20 federal lawsuits accusing retailers of using simple physics to take advantage of consumers. Challenges have been filed in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri and New Jersey, among other states, and some are seeking class-action status.

The latest lawsuit, filed last week in federal district court in Georgia, claims that distributors have been "unjustly enriched" by tens of millions of dollars. They did so by paying taxes on the fuel based on the colder industry standard but pocketing the taxes collected from customers when the temperature soars, it alleged.

The "hot fuel" effect is a matter of simple physics.

Almost a century ago, the industry and regulators agreed to define a gallon of gasoline as 231 cubic inches at 60 degrees. But as the mercury rises and gasoline expands, it takes more than a gallon of gas to produce the same amount of energy as a regular gallon in colder weather.

U.S. gas retailers ignore the temperature swings and always dispense fuel as if it's 60 degrees. As a result, gas is an average of about five degrees warmer than the federal standard, according to a study analyzed by Dick Suiter of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The debate is reaching Washington, and lawmakers don't have to look far for solutions.

In Canada, where cold temperatures were giving consumers an edge, many gas stations voluntarily backed a program to add pumps that automatically adjust volumes based on temperature.

During the energy crisis in the 1970s, tropical Hawaii decided to set a base fuel temperature of 80 degrees, meaning that consumers there get more bang for their buck because retailers now dispense 234 cubic inches of gas per gallon rather than 231.