Local gas station prices reflect effects of storm

by Brett Stone STO05020@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

Prices that would have been considered outrageously expensive just a month ago have become standard at area service stations.

As of Friday afternoon, a gallon of regular unleaded cost about $3, up roughly 14 percent from a week ago. The main reason behind the spike in prices is the now infamous Hurricane Katrina, which took out several oil processing installations in the Gulf of Mexico.

As prices have continued upwards, the effects locally have become more apparent. Andy Crossman of Taylor Chevrolet said that large SUV sales have essentially “dried up.” Instead, he said, people are looking to buy second and third vehicles that are fuel efficient just to get around in.

“There’s been a little bit of a panic every night,” said Alisa Smith, manager of Horkley’s Exxon gas station, where people have been lining up three and four cars deep at each pump. Smith also said that as prices have gone up, so have the number of drive-offs.

Visible changes in people’s daily lives have not been very apparent. That is starting to change. When asked, most people said that they were planning on trying to walk more and drive less. Sam Boston, a senior from Memphis, Tenn., said that even though he does have a car, until gas prices go down, he won’t be driving at all.

As more and more people find their budgets getting squeezed, BYU-Idaho Economics Professor, Kirk Gifford, said that the economy could experience what is called a secondary effect, where consumers are forced to spend more money on gasoline, so they have less money to spend on other goods, hurting the economy in a general, spread-out way.

Gifford also said that agriculture would likely be the local industry hit hardest by rising prices.