Local temperatures weren
’t the only things climbing in Morgan Hill over the last couple
of weeks; gas prices have once again marched to near record highs
this week and don’t show signs of slowing down until the fall.
Local temperatures weren’t the only things climbing in Morgan Hill over the last couple of weeks; gas prices have once again marched to near record highs this week and don’t show signs of slowing down until the fall.
Statewide gas prices have risen 23 cents since June to $2.59 per gallon, according to a AAA report released this week, and rising rates are expected to continue throughout the summer vacation months.
“They’ve got us,” said Scott Clifford, a Morgan Hill resident who commutes to his job in Santa Clara. “We’ve got to (pay) it. If we don’t, we can’t work and pay the bills.”
Morgan Hill’s average price for a gallon of gas Wednesday was $2.51, eight cents less than the statewide average, but 20 cents more than the national average of $2.31.
While the numbers are high, they are still less than the record highs set April 20 of this year, when the price per gallon reached $2.65 in the Bay Area. Though statewide prices dipped slightly below the $2 per gallon mark in January, they quickly climbed again for the next four months, tapering off slightly in May and falling 17 cents in June.
The highest price in Morgan Hill Wednesday was found at the Chevron stations on Cochrane Road and Vineyard Avenue, both at $2.57 per gallon. The lowest was at the World Gas station with $2.45 per gallon.
The state average has more than doubled in the past 10 years. In 1995, Californians were paying an average of $1.22 per gallon at the pump. In 2000, the price increased about 60 cents to around $1.80 per gallon.
Sean Comey, spokesman for AAA of Northern California, said the rising rates can be attributed to high prices of crude oil and the high demand during the summer months. Prices also went up, he said, following concerns of the latest hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico.
Comey expects prices to level off in the near future and possibly go down, but he was quick to point out that unforeseen problems could easily change that.
“If nothing changes, we should anticipate prices to come down,” Comey said. “We don’t have any margin for error. If there is an interruption in supply, we could see problems. There are 14 major refineries in California, if we were to have a one of them shut down or a line were to break, we could see prices shoot up.”
Commuters said they are not happy about paying higher prices, but realized there is nothing they can do about it if they wanted to drive their cars. Morgan Hill’s Norv Nogel, who commutes between 30-150 miles per day for his job, said oil companies are out for money and will raise prices based on what people will pay.
“They’ve got their profits now,” Nogel said. “It’s all what the market can bear. What are we supposed to do? We’ve got to go to work.”
Pacific Grove resident Robert Geise, who commutes to the Peninsula for work, said while the gas prices in California are bad, they could be worse.
“Americans are used to low gas prices,” Geise said. “Europeans pay so much more. We’re spoiled here.”
Cheeto Barrera is an intern at the Morgan Hill Times. He can be reached at cb******@mo*************.com.
