Dave Weir, manager of Al’s Mini Mart in Clallam Bay, is not sure he will have any gasoline to offer his customers in a week.
It cost him $5,384 on Monday just to get a week’s worth of fuel – 1,500 gallons at the wholesale price.
Had he wanted to fill his underground tanks he would have to shell out $35,000.
That’s money he doesn’t have as a small convenience store, he said.
It’s the highest he’s seen.
And he fears that next week it will cost even more.
“It’s economic terrorism,” Weir said.
“It’s destroying an economy.
The West End is “already one of the hardest hit areas of the country.”
Weir is selling a gallon of regular unleaded at $3.749, the highest price in Washington state, according to the watchdog Web site, www.washingtongasprices.com.
Weir said he sees a crisis on the horizon, mostly from gas prices taking a bigger bite out of hard-working people’s budgets.
And the tourists could stop coming, he predicts.
“Tourism is getting knocked out, and when that happens that’s going to knock out Port Angeles and Sequim.”
Monika Marriott, manager of Sea Breeze Grocery in Port Townsend, shares Weir’s concern.
“It’s going to effect (tourism) in a lot of ways,” Marriott said.
“We’ll see people not going on vacations. It’s probably cheaper to fly.
“It has hurt, and we haven’t even got into summer yet.”
