Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
A short three years ago, motorists in Eastern Washington could buy regular unleaded gasoline for as little as $1.97 per gallon in several areas – George, Pasco, Quincy, to name a few. Diesel didn’t cost much more.
Farmers could afford to fill their fuel tanks and shipping companies could keep their trucks moving at a reasonable price. And you and I could afford to drive personal vehicles – a necessity when you live and work in Eastern Washington.
As a result, rural residents could afford to buy groceries and pay their mortgages.
Those were the days.
Fast forward 3 years.
Under failed tax-and-spend policies of the Biden Administration nationally and the Inslee Administration in Washington state, fuel prices in our corner of the U.S. are soaring. Last week, Washington became the state with the highest median price for gasoline in the country, outpacing California and even Hawaii.
According to GasBuddy.com, the average price for regular unleaded in Washington on Monday, June 26, remained the highest in the nation at $4.92 per gallon.
That’s 13 cents more per gallon than California and 22 cents per gallon in Hawaii. It’s also 94 cents a gallon more than Idaho.
For the record, the national average Monday was $3.39 per gallon, or $1.53 less per gallon than here, but still about a buck-and-half more than just 3 years ago.
And while we’re not the highest when it comes to the cost of diesel, we’re close at No. 3. Hawaii’s average price was $5.67 per gallon, California was $4.91 and Washington was $4.91.
The national average for diesel was $3.69 per gallon, $1.22 less per gallon than in our state.
About 10 percent of the price in our state comes from taxes at the pump, 49.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and non-farm diesel.
Much of the rest of the high price of fuel in our state is connected to political decisions on the use of trains and pipelines to transport petroleum in Washington and the state’s global warming political theater orchestrated by Gov. Jay Inslee.
Unfortunately, the price here is expected to increase even more.
Two years ago, West Side lawmakers pushed a cap-and-trade proposal through the Legislature at Inslee’s behest. That law will likely add another 45 cents per gallon of fuel at the pump in the near future, according to Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville.
“Gov. Inslee’s expensive cap-and-trade program, known as the Climate Commitment Act and approved by Democrat majorities in the Legislature in 2021, is taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of drivers’ wallets and handing it to state agencies for various spending programs all in the name of climate change,” he said.
He’s right.
And while that money is being taken with our knowledge, government agencies – even some local ones – and utilities are pickpocketing more of our hard-earned cash.
Those “free” charging stations you see popping up on city streets and in parking lots aren’t free. They are being subsidized by tax and rate payers, and by those of us who use businesses services.
Additionally, the wealthy drivers of those electric vehicles are avoiding the taxes you and I pay at the pump; they are also often getting a “free” charge, while you and I have to pay for our own fuel.
Then there are the laws that limit the use of pipelines and trains for fuel in Washington.
And on the horizon is another plan to phase out general aviation low-lead gasoline, which is going to drive fuel prices even higher in our state.
Rural families in Eastern Washington need a break. We need a break from the failed policies being pushed in Olympia and Washington, D.C. And we need affordable fuel.
If we want to maintain the quality of life in Eastern Washington, we need lawmakers and bureaucrats to make lowering the cost of fuel a priority.
— Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Email him at Roger@cheneyfreepress.com.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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