Gas prices create hardship for many Prices $3 a gallon and higher here
By ELAINE SANDMAN
Staff writer
Although the gas prices have remained steady at $3.29 a gallon for nearly a month now in Boundary County, the prices jumped by a dime or more a week for about three months during early spring.
Zip Trip on the South Hill continues its trend of being four cents a gallon less than other gas stations in Bonners Ferry, Moyie Springs and Naples. In Libby, Mont., the prices appear to remain significantly lower than North Idaho. The prices at stations in Sandpoint are a bit lower than Boundary County, but Coeur d'Alene shows the most significant drop at barely $3 a gallon and up.
In remote areas such as Boundary and Bonner counties, where public transportation alternatives are basically non-existent, its an understatement to say that local residents need gas to almost any where, including work. So what does this mean for summer travel plans, for many it means they won't go as far away from home as they might have, and it could also mean a significant drop in tourism for North Idaho.
How does the average person plan and budget trips, or even something as common as just getting to work, when even the analysts can't seem to get a handle on what may happen next.
A little research found that in November of 2006, the organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), cut production by 1.2 million barrels a day. Then in February 2007, OPEC made a further cut of 500,000 barrels a day. Also there were planned and unplanned refinery outages, both in the United States and Europe, along with falling imports from Europe.
The analysts in March reported that gasoline prices would not reach three dollars a gallon this summer.
The Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department's statistical agency, projected the average pump price of regular gasoline would peak at around $2.70 a gallon in June, and drop off as the summer driving season waned, but for North Idaho, those prices are long past and gas skyrocketed beyond $3 a gallon several weeks ago.
The research also mentioned transitioning from gas to ethanol with a gasoline-blending component this summer, so, the projections show there should be ample supplies of corn-based fuel this year.
To determine how high gasoline prices may go is like the gasoline itself, a volatile subject. With numerous factors involved, prices rise and fall based on several things as mentioned above, but there are also other factors such as state taxes, delivery costs, marketing, cost of crude oil to the refineries, refinery processing costs and so on.
In the past, gas prices decreased because of mega-mergers among the major international oil companies, as well as major technological advances, and the ongoing international threats of heavy decreases in future oil demand. However, even now with those mergers completed, the climate change solutions are still not locked down. So consumers are going to have to watch their dollars carefully to make sure they have enough to go to work so that they can pay their bills, buy food and the necessities of life.