The paper tells me that North Carolina has the highest gas prices in the continental United States. Seems to me that this title is usually held by California, so something must really be amiss.
I’ll tell you what it is: North Carolina is being played. The oil companies are turning off the tap to bring us to our knees, either so we’ll cave and drill for oil along our beautiful, expansive coast or to help put oil-friendly politicians in the governor’s mansion and the Senate. Or it could be a way of striking back at Attorney General Roy Cooper for previous barking about price gouging after Tropical Storm Hanna (I say “barking” because I’ve seen no evidence of any bite). Somehow, some way, somebody is twisting the screws on us. I doubt its an accident.
Check out this quote from the president of the Pantry convenience store chain:
“We had to ship it from Jacksonville, Fla., to Charlotte, just to get some of those stations wet,” said Pete Sodini, president of the Pantry, a Sanford-based chain that sells gas at 1,600 convenience stores in 11 states. “It cost almost 30 cents a gallon to truck it from Jacksonville, but we had no choice.”
Yeah, I could fill up my gas can and walk it up from Jacksonville 15,000,000 times, but that might not be the most efficient way. North Carolina has a fine railroad system which reaches the whole state. Trains from Jacksonville pass through our state daily. I’m sure CSX could string some tanker cars together and get gas here more cheaply. If rail doesn’t do it, our state has some fine ports in Wilmington and Morehead City. Oil tankers are always welcome.
I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that the price of our oil drops suddenly after the November 4th election.
(Update: This was written somewhat tongue-in-cheek.)