FOR YOUR INFORMATION............October 25, 1990


     On Tuesday, Oct. 23, Ronald B. Rowe, Director for Litigation,
of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition, presented
a statement before a joint subcommittee of the Virginia Senate and
House of Delegates, on legislation affecting gasoline distribution
markets in Virginia.  The statement was presented at the request
of Virginia Delegate Alan A. Diamonstein, Chairman of the Joint
Subcommittee Studying Divorcement.

     The statement reaffirmed a previous staff comment that opposed
divorcement legislation limiting ownership of retail gasoline
stations by refiners as "anticompetitive and harmful" to consumers:
"The argument that refiner-owned and operated retail service
stations are part of a collusive scheme to harm franchised dealers
has no factual support in the record before this subcommittee." 

     The statement noted that Virginia's neighbor, Maryland, has
had a divorcement law since 1973, and cited a recent report by the
Maryland State Department of Fiscal Services for the General
Assembly of Maryland, that concluded that "the Maryland divorcement
law has resulted in higher gasoline prices for consumers." 

     In concluding the statement, Rowe said, "there appears to be
no factual support for divorcement legislation, but there are
compelling reasons to believe that such legislation would be
harmful to competition and to Virginia consumers and visitors."

     The statement and comment represent the views of Mr. Rowe and
the staff of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, and do not
necessarily represent the views of the Commission or any individual
Commissioner.

     Copies of the statement and earlier comment are available from
the FTC's Public Reference Branch, Rm. 130, 6th St. and
Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY
202-326-2502.

                              # # #

MEDIA CONTACT:      Howard Shapiro, Office of Public Affairs,
                    202-326-2176

STAFF CONTACT:      Ronald B. Rowe, Bureau of Competition,
                    202-326-2610

(Vagasdiv)