Complaints about high gas prices on the South Coast, and in Coos Bay-North Bend in particular, are nothing new. The Oregon Department of Justice released a 13-page report in 2006, concluding there was no price gouging going on in the Bay Area.

“On the basis of this investigation, insufficient evidence exists to conclude that high prices consumers experienced on the Southern Oregon Coast during the period examined resulted from illegal anticompetitive behavior. High gasoline and diesel prices on the southern Oregon coast in 2004 appear to have been the result of national and local market factors rather than unlawful collusion,” the  report said.

Altogether, the department has looked into gas prices in the Coos Bay area in 2001, 2004 and in each of the last three years. Spokeswoman Jan Margosian said recent investigations concluded no evidence of price fixing.