Gas really going up!

[PSPS]

Here's gas here today:

[stop the bleeding]

1. where is here?? over there???

[RubyDuby in GA]

2. It's $2.55 outside the metro Atlanta area where I live

And we usually have the cheapest gas in the country (in GA, that is).

[theDash]

5. $2.59 here in Memphis

That's about a .30 cent increase from a month ago

[Richard D]

3. 2.71 for regular . . .

. . . would be cheap around parts of L.A.

[RufusEarl]

4. $2.69.9 Fort Worth Texas

[paparush]

6. $2.73 in western NC nt

[katty]

7. in LA it will be $3&over in a nanosec

[Inland]

8. $2.69 in Chi suburbs, up a nickel from YESTERDAY. nt

[graywarrior]

9. No shit...it's getting fucked up.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=871575&mesg_id=871575

[Hubert Flottz]

10. The price of GOP "MORALITY" and "FAMILY VALUES" is...

expensive! Bush never promised you rose gardens, but he's delivered that to EXXON!

[acmejack]

11. He may have never promised us rose gardens

But he has damn well given us enough shit to fertilize them...

[Hubert Flottz]

35. That is a fact!

He can't even lie well, but he tries!

[maveric]

12. $2.75 with a bullet in San Diego.

Up 2 cents a day the past week.

[William769]

13. Your lucky!

It's 2.84 here for regular.

[Jersey Devil]

14. $2.48 NJ Getty (nt)

x

[OhioChick]

15. $2.69

Cleveland area, as of last night.

[rurallib]

16. Sadly, this is what will turn the Bushbots against the asshole

the lying, stealing, the war of choice, the deaths of soldiers, the theft of a future from our kids - all that and no reaction. Gas goes up 70c and it's time to dump his ass.
$2.60 in Iowa. Up @ .50 in a month.

[yardwork]

17. Of course. Easter weekend and Passover are coming up

People will be traveling to visit their families. Good time to raise gas prices. Inelastic market, don't you know?

[MADem]

20. Of course, they'll blame the shift from WINTER to SUMMER mix

...and whine about excessive refinery restrictions.

Nothing will be said about the shameful compensation of CEOs, COOs, and Board Members of those GreedPig outfits.

[nonews]

22. Ethanol

not enough ethonal available for the shift from MTBE plus it is more expensive to put Ethonal into the gasoline endproduct. Blame the EPA on this one

[yardwork]

26. What absolute bullroar

I'm sorry, but that is completely wrong. The oil companies are enjoying record-breaking profits. This has nothing to do with the EPA. Environmental rules have been gutted anyway.

That tired old excuse "blame the EPA" is worn out, dead and buried. Drop it.

[nonews]

28. WSJ

article last week in the Wall St Journal said just that; the Midwest alone has 30 different formulas to change. Those are the facts. Deal with it!

[yardwork]

30. I'm sure that the WSJ would love to blame everything on the EPA

Not exactly an unbiased source.

[nonews]

32. Congress

actually the article blames Congress! Both parties!!!

[nonews]

29. actual article

The Gasoline Follies
March 28, 2006; Page A20

Gasoline prices are rising again, and this time Iraq or hurricanes aren't to blame. Congress's energy policy mistakes are finally catching up with it, and American drivers are paying for the bungles.

The average U.S. retail pump price for gasoline has been hovering around $2.50 a gallon the past few weeks; prices are now at their highest since last October -- or back when the country was dealing with Katrina. The federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) has warned this may only be the beginning, and parts of the country could see pump prices well over $3 a gallon going into summer. Happy Memorial Day.

Drivers can send their thank-you notes to Capitol Hill, which created the conditions for this mess last summer with its latest energy bill. That legislation contained a sop to Midwest corn farmers in the form of a huge new ethanol mandate that began this year and requires drivers to consume 7.5 billion gallons a year by 2012. At the same time, Congress refused to include liability protection for producers of MTBE, a rival oxygen fuel-additive that has become a tort lawyer target. So MTBE makers are pulling out, ethanol makers can't make up the difference quickly enough, and gas supplies are getting squeezed.


It didn't take an economics degree to see this coming. The MTBE industry's defense in the many lawsuits claiming its product has contaminated water supplies is that since 1990 the government has required use of oxygenates like MTBE. But with that requirement expiring in May, producers and refiners will face far greater liability, which has set off a race to exit the market. Valero, one of the largest manufacturers, has already announced plans to phase out production. Even the pipeline operators that carry MTBE to high-use areas in the Northeast are backing away.

This abrupt cut-off of a product that makes up some 1.4% of the nation's fuel supply -- and far greater percentages in some places -- is certain to wreak price havoc. According to a February EIA report, ethanol production is already running near its capacity of 283,000 barrels a day. Yet "about 130,000 barrels per day of additional ethanol may be needed to replace the MTBE currently used" in gas.

Even Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association and promoter-in-chief of all things ethanol, is admitting his industry can't make up the shortfall. "We're adding as much as we can, as fast as we can. But I don't think anybody anticipated refiners would be hemorrhaging MTBE as quickly as they are," he said recently. We're not sure what corn farm Mr. Dinneen has been living on, but MTBE producers have been warning Congress for years that this is precisely what would happen if it failed to offer the industry legal protection.

The bigger question is whether all this newly mandated ethanol -- the subsidized profits of which are funneled to Midwest farmers and agribusiness giants like ADM -- will even make it to its destinations. Unlike MTBE, ethanol can't be shipped ready-made through pipes. Instead it must be trucked or carried by rail from the Midwest to terminals near its ultimate selling point, where it then must be blended with a special unfinished fuel that is shipped separately through pipelines.

This is creating a logistical nightmare, forcing refiners to add blending facilities at their terminals, convert tanks to hold ethanol, and switch over retail outlets. To give a sense of this experiment, consider that only about one-third of all reformulated gas used on the East Coast is currently blended at terminals; the rest is produced or delivered as finished product. That now must change, in a matter of months, and at a time when refiners face a blizzard of separate new regulations. An ultra-low sulfur diesel program begins June 1, another gift horse from Congress.

Imports could help, though the domestic ethanol industry has made sure those also come at a dear price. Ethanol imports are subject to a 2.5% tariff and a second duty of 54 cents a gallon. This is particularly unfortunate for Texas or East Coast residents, who'd benefit greatly if they could get their ethanol (duty free) from local ports rather than pay to have it trucked across the country.

But such economic sense would defeat the purpose of a law designed not to reduce gas prices but instead to underwrite a politically powerful ethanol industry that can't survive without giant government handouts, protectionism and the brute force of mandates. The only bright spot is that perhaps the current travails will put to rest calls that America emulate Brazil -- which sunk billions of state money into a giant ethanol infrastructure so that it could become "energy independent."

As it is, the U.S. already produces more ethanol than Brazil, and even today's four-million-gallon requirement is clearly straining the industry. Increasing ethanol use much beyond the 2012 mandate is going to require that entire states be planted with corn and sugar, or a scientific breakthrough involving biomass and grass. Meantime, prepare to pay more for gas.

This ethanol-MTBE fiasco is just the latest example of what happens when Congress holds energy markets hostage to narrow special interests. If Republicans on Capitol Hill wonder why their approval ratings stay low as gasoline prices rise this spring and summer, we suggest they look in the mirror.

[yardwork]

31. The WSJ is blaming Congress, not the EPA!

From the article linked above -

Drivers can send their thank-you notes to Capitol Hill, which created the conditions for this mess last summer with its latest energy bill.

Congress is controlled by Republicans.

[nonews]

33. Roll Call...

both parties had to vote to make any of these laws pass when it comes to clean air act; what bothers me is the fact that "small" farmers really do not get that much help with the ethanol production--it's the big super farmers like ADM, Etc.

[yardwork]

36. Your OP said "blame the EPA" for high gas prices

How is the Environmental Protection Agency to blame for high gas prices? The WSJ article you referenced talks about Congress and its energy bills, not the EPA.

[bullwinkle428]

34. "when Congress holds energy markets hostage to narrow special interests"

Wait a minute, wait a minute...I thought the Republicans were all about letting market forces do their job, and competition would keep prices in check? They were lying to us all this time? :sarcasm:

[Strelnikov_]

43. Nymex Crude At $68/bbl, Gasoline (Wholesale Futures) At $2.00/gal

Which translates to a nationwide average of $2.80/gal.

Because retail pricing (for gas) is generally based on replacement cost, increases in futures prices move through to the retail level very quickly.

I think the oxygenate issue is a red herring. What we are seeing is life on the leading edge of the Peak Oil plateau.

[riona]

18. Tampa area

$2.65 +

[etherealtruth]

19. Metro Detroit $2.78

[WePurrsevere]

21. $2.82 gal for Regular in Northern NY - it was the cheapest in town too.

Thankfully we don't really have to drive too much even though we live out in the country a bit.

Hopefully the prices will go back down a bit before next Winter. This just passing Winter was extremely hard for us and so many others in the north country with the crazy high fuel oil prices.

edited to add: that gas price includes, I think, NY's 5 cent gas tax (See Correction below)

edited again to add that I found this... NOT just 5 cents... it's a percent.

On top of a federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, New York -- like every other state -- imposes its own gas tax. But unlike the federal tax, a portion of New York's tax actually increases as the price of gas goes higher. With gas exceeding $2 per gallon across the state, this higher tax amounts to an unplanned "windfall" for the state.

[redwitch]

40. I saw 2.89 today in Washington County. Where are you?

I travel the whole state for my living, I am a road rep, and I am very freaked out!

[WePurrsevere]

47. We're in St.Lawrence County near the "Seaway". The cheapest we've seen

sort of close to us is about an hour from here on the Akwesasne Indian Reservation... that's going up today or tomorrow to about $2.72 according to my DD's SO who works there.

Wow... this has got to hit you hard in the wallet with all the traveling you do. My DH used to travel all over the state as well with his work repairing/installing computers, bank equipment, satellite's, ATMs , etc. He used to get so peeved when gas would go up since until his job would modify their milage rates he'd have to eat the difference. I sure hope you don't have that problem. :(

One of the worse things about gas going up and up is that as the prices go up on gas so many other, even basic, things are effected as well like our food and grocery bills. It makes it very difficult for the poor, lower working class and fixed income folks... more so now with the budget cuts for basic help hitting them.


edited to add: I forget to quote the source for my previous quote... it's from a NYS Senate site... there's a "Roll Back the Gas Tax" petition.... not sure how active it still is though: http://www.senate.state.ny.us/sws/ENERGY/index.html

[redwitch]

48. Straight commission here.

I eat ALL costs unfortunately. It seems a pay decrease is happening to me again. :-(

[WePurrsevere]

49. Oh man that really bites. I'm so sorry. I've worked on commision...

it's not easy and this type of stuff makes it that much more difficult.

If you're ever up in Canton, Pottsdam or Ogdensburg feel free to zap me a PM if you'd like to meet at a local coffee shop for a coffee/tea/etc and political *itch session. ;)

[redwitch]

50. once or twice a year I get up to Canton

I will do that!

[WePurrsevere]

55. Cool.. I look forward to hopefully meeting you when you do. :-) n/t

[livetohike]

23. Gas went up 6 cents this morning to $2.79 (Oceanside, CA) and

this is the "cheap" station :eyes:

[jeanarrett]

24. $2.79 Ann Arbor, Michigan

[converted_democrat]

45. That's what it is here in Centeral FL too..n/t

[long_green]

25. cheapest regular I saw today in N.O. was $2.59

at a big time gas station it was fifteen or so cents more. A bit cheaper in the burbs.

[wherewingstakedream]

27. $2.63 in Ridgeland, MS

up 14 cents in one week.

[spanone]

37. $2.69 and rising.....middle Tennessee.

[Kare]

38. $2.59 in Northeast Indiana

but on the illinois side it is 2.79

The further into indiana you go the cheaper is it's 2.69 right over the border

[SammyWinstonJack]

39. $2.59 for unleaded in my neighborhood, up $0.12 overnight.

[VolcanoJen]

41. $2.45 in Cincinnati, cheapest I saw... is a hurricane coming?

I mean, seriously, what is the reason being given for these skyrocketing prices?

Cool website to check out gas prices in your area:

Gas Buddy

[Ilsa]

42. $2.60 for regular in south Tx. It went up 22 cents since Monday and

I got caught trying to put in $2.38 and it went up 12 cents before it accepted my VISA at the pump.

[DanCa]

44. $2.70 here today in the northwest suburbs of Il.

It just jumped ten cents since last night.

[SammyWinstonJack]

46. So I am guessing these Oil Company CEOs are among those making

$13,700 per hour? And I am also guessing that they don't pay for the gas in their vehicles? :rofl:

[bigwillq]

51. I paid $2.68/gal in CT

:(

[maxsolomon]

52. Well, we voted Bush in. What did we expect?

wait... scratch that....

[pdxmom]

53. If you're willing to pay cash only, here in Portland Oregon suburbs

you can get it as cheap as $2.39. Average price today is around $2.49.

[LittleClarkie]

54. $2.79 in the Milwaukee Metro area

Eeesh.

I stood out in the rain last night because I saw a $2.63 sign and figured I'd better fill 'er up.