Local Reaction to Gas Price Spike
Higher energy prices continue to fuel concern among investors on wall street.
But even with the continued cold conditions, we’re all feeling the heat at the gas pumps!
The average price for a gallon of regular gas in Michigan is sitting at $3.43 right now.
But the price is closing in on $3.60 in many places in the U.P.
Ishpeming is one of those places.
Customers we spoke with say the price is hurting them in different ways.
Frank Richards of Ishpeming says it’s now costing him almost an entire day’s pay each week just to fill up his truck to drive back and forth to work in Gwinn.
Tom Bond of Negaunee says he and his wife like to visit his family in Munising several times a month, but he doesn’t think that’ll be possible anymore because of the cost of driving there and back every weekend.
Many economic experts are saying the price jump is a result of the recent unrest in Egypt and Libya.
But those countries aren’t our major foreign oil suppliers.
Canada and Mexico are.
Bond says it seems to him the oil companies have drivers over a barrel, saying as much as we may hate the idea, most of us have no choice but to keep paying.
The last time we saw a fuel price spike like this was in the summer of 2008.
Prices for most of the U.P. reached $4.25 a gallon in July but then plummeted below the $2 mark by Thanksgiving.