By Michele Mihalovich, for Peninsula Daily News
While most motorists are watching gasoline prices inch toward $4 a gallon, diesel fuel costs are already there — and beyond.
And North Olympic Peninsula trucking companies say they are feeling it in the pocketbook.
The Energy Information Administration says the West Coast average price for diesel fuel is $4.052 per gallon — and $4.118 in California, which has its own category.
An informal sampling of diesel fuel costs in the North Olympic Peninsula on Tuesday showed a range between $4.12 and $4.31 per gallon.
Liberty Exxon in Port Angeles charged $4.12 per gallon on Tuesday evening, Chevron in Port Angeles charged $4.15, 101 Outpost in Sequim charged $4.19, 76 Station in Forks charged $4.29 and Sea Breeze Gas and Grocery in Port Townsend charged $4.31.
Last year at this time, nationally, diesel cost on average $2.89 per gallon, according to AAA.
Ron Parrish of Parrish Trucking Inc. in Sequim said today’s fuel prices are “outrageous”
“My oldest boy put $700 worth of fuel in his truck, and it only lasted two days,” he said.
“This is making it very hard to make a living. It’s hurting working people everywhere.”
Parrish said one thing his son is trying to do to keep all 15 of his workers employed is avoiding runs to California, which has some of the highest fuel prices in the nation because of state-required emissions controls.
