The sun rose in the east Sunday morning, Pope Benedict XVI steadfastly remained Roman Catholic, and gas prices continued to climb.
Sheesh! What did you expect?
The annual spring/summer runup in fuel prices has started early, gas station owners and employees say, and they’re as unhappy as their customers.
“They don’t like to see it,” said Glen Johnson, owner of the Mount Pleasant IGS & Texaco at 3010 E. U.S. Highway 101, “but they’ve finally realized it’s not the gas station that’s causing it. It’s the oil companies.”
Regular gas cost $2.59 at Johnson’s station.
Rising gas and diesel fuel prices feed on themselves and drive costs even higher, he said.
The fuel that Johnson pumps travels from the Texaco refinery in Anacortes to Tumwater, where it’s transferred to trucks that haul it to Port Angeles.
“The big trucks that bring the gas out here have to pay more for diesel,” he said.
The 10,000-gallon tankers get perhaps five miles to the gallon, Johnson said, on the 240-mile round trip.
With diesel selling at $2.69 at his station last week, he said, it costs nearly $130 just for delivery.
At Al’s Mini Mart in Clallam Bay, the situation seemed even grimmer to manager Dave Weir.
“They’re pretty upset,” he said of customers who are playing $2.69 per gallon for regular gas Weir bought at $2.61.5 — which includes a 4 cent per gallon surcharge for delivery.
“We have to make enough to stay open,” he said, “and customers are just livid.”
