By the barrel or the gallon, gas hits new highs
The San Francisco Bay Area always leads in cultural trends, technology, and gas prices. It may be mocked and marginalized as unrepresentative, but eventually the country catches up. As tourists stroll up the Panhandle toward the entrance to Golden Gate Park admiring the quaint Victorians of the past, the future interrupts at the corner of Masonic and Fell Streets. Self-serve unleaded regular has reached $4.18 a gallon. The New York Times reports today on the confluence of factors causing oil to reach $114 a barrel while the average U.S. price per gallon hit a record $3.39. Diesel now averages $4.12, and the economy is beginning to feel the impact as prices rise to keep pace with increasing transportation expenses. Small disruptions to supply - pipeline problems in the Midwest and Nigeria and bad weather in the Gulf of Mexico - are having oversized impacts on the world market. President Bush's attempt to jawbone oil producers into increasing supplies has been rebuffed. Speaking of its oil reserves, Saudi Arabia's king said recently, "Let them remain in the ground for our children and grandchildren who need them."
[Source: New York Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jimmy 4:43PM (4/16/2008)
Wow, the left coast elitism is really rampant in your first paragraph. You should watch the "Smug Alert!" episode of South Park.
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James 4:53PM (4/16/2008)
Saudi Arabia's king said recently, "Let them remain in the ground for our children and grandchildren who need them."
I sure hope his grandkids like the taste of their oil when they have to eat it. When we are all driving EV's or using biodiesel made from alge to run our cars and trucks.
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Wildgoosechase73 7:18PM (4/16/2008)
Everybody cheer for high gas prices which will result in less use and lower pollution while we wait in line at the unemployment office since we were layed off. We'll see you next at the welfare office to pick up our foodstamps since the cost of food and everything else has skyrocketed.
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Kevin Nugent 7:40PM (4/16/2008)
i JUST WISH FOR THE DAY we use phevs with massive range. After that . I don't care when i die . Just let me see the world go through innovation and stop using this stuff.
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Dan 7:48PM (4/16/2008)
That's only 20 cents higher than LA. I don't drive a whole lot of miles, so I haven't filled up yet on $4 gas, but even at $3.50 I could just barely fill up my motorcycle for 15 bucks.
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kert 8:36PM (4/16/2008)
so just what did you do today to get rid of your oil dependency ? buy an electric scooter yet ? or converted an old car to EV ? purchased a conversion ? or even pestered your local Nissan/Mitsubishi/Subaru dealers about getting their respective near term EVs delivered to US market sooner rather than later ? raise awareness of PHEVs ?
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Niralisherni 4:45AM (4/17/2008)
Even people who have no interest in the environment per se, or who have no desire to limit their carbon footprint are interested in operating a vehicle that will save them some money. Forget the environment, everyone is interested in saving themselves some money and this seems to be renewing interest in electric vehicles.
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Peekoyle 9:48AM (4/17/2008)
This is great news. It is truly the beginning of Peak Oil in my opinion. Now we can finally get serious about investing in alternatives like EV's.
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nichole 6:31PM (4/17/2008)
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Matthijs 6:54PM (4/17/2008)
Hi from Holland near Amsterdam where gas is now $9,40 a gallon. Still no EV's just people complaining and filling up. Gas in the US is still dirt cheap!
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