Good and Bad News about Gas in Washington State

The good news? Washington State has drastically cut back on its consumption of fuel, returning to consumption rates last seen when LBJ was in the White House. The bad news? The gas we do use costs a hell of a lot, and that's not going to change any time soon.

Yesterday, the results of two studies regarding gasoline in Washington were released. Seattle-based think tank Sightline Institute found that the Pacific Northwest is leading the nation in the reduction of gas consumption. According to KING 5:

From 1999 to 2007, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho have cut their per capita consumption of gasoline by 11 percent. Researchers say that translates to reducing consumption by nearly a gallon a week, returning per person gas use to levels unseen since 1966.

As we all know, the cost of gas is not following a similar decreasing trend. Gas prices have been climbing so rapidly in Washington that Attorney General Rob McKenna began a year-long investigation to see if prices were being unfairly manipulated. He reported his findings yesterday, which showed no evidence of price-gouging or manipulation. Rather, the ever-rising cost of gas is based on good old supply and demand. Regional refineries have been unable to keep up with the rising demand for gas, so distributors have had to import gas from refineries in Finland and Saudi Arabia. It takes a lot of gas and money to get all that gas here to local consumers, increasing the cost at the pump. The fact that Washington State also has the highest per-gallon gas tax in the nation doesn't help, either.

So you're using less gas, but it is definitely going to continue costing you more.

"Truth is Stranger Than Fiction" courtesy of Flickr contributor Ron Parker