PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A network of 25 gas stations in the greater Philadelphia area is offering discounted prices at the pump. It’s an initiative created by the White House, dubbed the Freedom Fuel Network, but who is subsidizing the discount?
The Freedom Fuel stations, which can be found all the way from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, to Egg Harbor, New Jersey, are offering gas at a low of $3.47 per gallon. The stations themselves are not new; Freedom Fuel branding was placed over existing gas stations.
The White House posted a promotional video earlier this week announcing the Freedom Fuel Network’s launch in Philadelphia. The $3.47 cost is a nod to the 47th president, Donald Trump.
That’s about 40 to 50 cents less than the average price of gas in Pennsylvania and New Jersey right now. Other stations near a Sunoco-turned-Freedom Fuel station at Dreshertown Road and Limekiln Pike in Upper Dublin were offering gas between $3.85 and $4.09.
However, Trump’s price at the pump has already been fluctuating. The day after the White House posted the video announcing the $3.47 rate, prices at that Upper Dublin station had already increased by 10 cents.
Before the war in Iran, gas prices in the Philadelphia area were hovering under $3 a gallon. Analysts say that to reach as low as $3.47 today, gas stations would be losing money. So who is subsidizing the losses?
“I don’t know who subsidized it,” said John, who was filling up at the Freedom Fuel station in Upper Dublin. “Perhaps it’s a good thing, unless there’s some kind of cost on the back end.”
“It’s unclear exactly who owns these gas stations,” said Alex Jacquez, senior vice president of policy, advocacy and research for the progressive think tank Groundwork Collaborative. “Many of these gas stations are owned independently or franchised, and so maybe either connected to or just simply supportive of, or fans of, the president.”
A landlord for several of the Freedom Fuel sites said he doesn’t own the stations, only leases the property to fuel companies, and he isn’t involved in the branding.
“If this was profitable, other gas stations would be doing it too,” Jacquez added. “There is a clear baseline on what is a break-even price for the industry, and it’s very clear that these gas stations are operating below it right now and will continue to as long as gas prices keep rising.”
The Freedom Fuel Network was registered in Delaware on June 23, signed by Yoni Gontownik, a financier with connections to the Singapore sovereign wealth fund. Neither the Freedom Fuel Network nor Gontownik responded to KYW Newsradio’s request for comment.
The White House is promoting the gas stations selling $3.47 a gallon
The White House is promoting the gas stations selling $3.47 a gallon
