Gasoline prices continue to rise

Tom Hemingway’s Broadway Truck Stop customers said it best: Not again.

Gas prices went up this week, and many in the business expect them to continue to rise.

“We have a situation that’s continually getting worse,” said Tim Hamilton, executive director of the nonprofit Automotive United Trades Organization in Olympia.

Experts say the petroleum industry is struggling to keep up with world demand for oil. That means gas is being rationed by raising the price, Hamilton said.

“We’re going to hit $2.25 by April come hell or high water,” he said. “The question is, will we break $3 or $4 a gallon this summer? Time will tell.”

In Spokane, the average price for a gallon of unleaded gas was $2.04 on Friday, according AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. A month ago, it was $1.87.

For Coeur d’Alene, the average price was $2.02 on Friday and $1.91 a month earlier.

Offering a different perspective, Dave Overstreet, of Washington/Inland AAA, said the rise is typical for this time of year.

“The demand starts to increase, because people start driving more” in the spring and summer, Overstreet said.

Americans are used to getting a good price at the pump, said Don Larkin, of Jim Larkin’s Chevron. Although prices may be rising, they’re still not as high as what Europeans or Japanese pay for gas, he added.

Despite that, the rise isn’t good for anybody – drivers or gas stations, said Hemingway.

“As our costs go up, our margins deteriorate,” he said.

Larkin has invited people into his office to see how much he pays for gas.

“We’re not making a great deal,” he said. Yet gas stations are what people see, Larkin said. “They don’t see Chevron or OPEC,” he said, referring to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. “They have a misinterpretation of how much we make at the pump.”