Bay Area drivers can be thankful for small favors, with gas prices inching up only four cents a gallon over the last month. Unfortunately, summer, with its higher demand and concomitant higher gas prices, is approaching.
Unemployment and weak demand for gas kept prices from jumping, according to auto association AAA, which released its gas price survey Tuesday. Crude oil, the biggest ingredient of gas, closed at $84.05 a barrel Tuesday, compared with $81.49 a barrel a month ago. The price of gas generally tracks that of oil.
A gallon of regular now costs $3.18 in the Bay Area; $3.14 in Oakland, up four cents; $3.09 in Concord, up three cents; $3.16 in Pleasanton, up two cents; $3.07 in Fremont, up four cents; $3.10 in San Jose, up four cents, and $3.20 in San Francisco, up four cents.
Weary of the recession and high gas prices that make shrinking or nonexistent paychecks even harder to handle, Bay Area motorists lashed out.
"It's greed on the part of the oil companies," said Pete Chroman of Castro Valley as he fueled up at a station on Alhambra Avenue in Martinez. "Every time gas goes up, the government gets more money from sales tax, so they don't put the kibosh on it (higher prices)."
Chroman said programs mandating cleaner-burning gas in California drive up the price. "Our prices are higher than other states' and it's because of cleaner gas. I think it's time to stop that," Chroman said.
Gas prices currently average
$2.86 nationally, compared with $3.18 in the Bay Area.
"Taxes and environmental laws bring up gas prices," said Frank Anello of Martinez. "You either ease up on the environmental laws or you pay more."
Chroman, a retired UC Berkeley anthropology professor, and Anello, who works at a local oil refinery, are correct about taxes and environmental laws, according to Severin Borenstein, director of the Berkeley-based University of California Energy Institute.
"We use a cleaner-burning gasoline and that accounts for about an extra 10 cents per gallon for production," Borenstein told the Bay Area News Group in 2007. California's higher gas taxes add another approximately 13 cents per gallon, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
Bay Area prices are expected to go up as much as 20 or 30 cents a gallon by June, according to Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.com.
Drivers at the gas station agreed that prices will continue to go up.
"We're going into that time when people go on vacation and demand drives prices up," said Ellen Gould of Hercules. But regardless, Bay Area motorists will continue to visit the pumps.
