[wayupthere]

well i just made the long journey from Washington to Washington D.C.. left Skykomish on Sat. took Route 2 all the way from Sky to St. Ignacious, MI. mostly a two lane road the whole way. very beautiful drive. my favorits spots-- the panhandle of Idaho, Whitefish, MT & Glacier Natl. park, and the upper peninsula of MI. total milege was approx. 3600 miles. took only 5 days. fuel prices definately get cheaper as you head east. i payed $2.23/gal for diesel fuel when i left Sky. never saw diesel fuel over $2.00/gal again. cheapest i saw it was $1.64/gal. Washington definately has some of the highest fuel prices in the country.

[Backpacker Joe]

[Tom]

It's all relative. Washington State has no income tax. I'm guessing the average resident pays $1000 more in sales/gas tax but saves about $2500 in income tax.

[Slugman]

[Thurston Howell III]

Can you explain how oil barons are to blame for higher gas taxes in WA state? -------------- No one can pull the wool over my eyes. Cashmere maybe, but wool, never

[kleet]

[Slugman]

Our slightly higher gas taxes have nothing to do with our massively higher pump prices. Oil barons, through the magic of unfettered capitalism, are manipulating the supply of gas throughout the far west. If our taxes are 5 cents per gallon more than another state, how does that explain a 10 or 20 cent price difference? (or even more !) Leave it to a neo-con to blame the other side for their own doing. It just points out the inherent dishonesty of conservatism.

[Captain Trips]

Higher gas prices have many causes from the refinery level to the consumer end user but I don't think one can blame the neo-cons for this particular matter, they have enough to think about trying to walk around with a 800 lb gorilla costume. No question that areas of higher demand, the west coast for example, have higher prices, that's good old capitalism !

[Thurston Howell III]

[Thirsty Chrysler IV]

I guess I need to transfer my last post from Thread Length to here where it will do the most good... Link on why things are the way they are

[Captain Trips]

Sorry to continue the deviation of the original intent of this thread, but you parties on the right and the left need to get on the same page. The issue is the difference in fuel prices by region and not the general level of gas prices. Let the battle continue

[polarbear]

Another article. Back to the topic, the drive from Salmon to Challis is really nice.

[Mikey]

As those of you in the petroleum product business know, the gasoline and diesel prices are related to the distribution regions (not merely the cost of the product + transportation). Locally, take a look at the prices in Puget Sound region, Mt Vernon (very near some oil refineries),Tricities area, Spokane, Boise, Helena Montana (there is an oil refinery in Helena), etc. One reason no new oil refineries have been built for many years is that it makes much more economic sense to expand existing refineries than to build new ones. By the way, Shell has announced that their Bakersfield oil refinery in Calif. is to be sold (it is located inland near many oil wells). It appears Shell acquired this refinery in 1998 as mentioned on this website. http://www.piersystem.com/external/index.cfm?cid=336&fuseaction=EXTERNAL.docview&pressID=4172 The acquisition of oil refineries and merger of oil companies in order to control the prices and "increase efficiency and productivity" has been going on for some time (i.e. Chevron - Texaco, Exxon-Mobil, etc.). With regards to environmental influence on diesel and gasoline prices, there is the issue of sulfur in US gasoline and diesel - which apparently is the highest in the world and refineries are (or already have) undergoing modifications to produce lower sulfur content diesel and gasoline. The addition of ethanol and other oxygenates (mbte) supposedly to reduce air pollutant emissions is complicated with the politics of the agricultural lobby (i.e. unfortunately, these so-called cleaner gasolines actually result in no reduction of summertime ozone formation and in some cases make it worse). Yes, I know, this does not have much to to with hiking!!!

[Captain Trips]

Thanks for the informative article Mikey. Due to worldwide demand for oil, especially from China, the high prices probably will stay around. I'm going to lurk in the background and wait for the reaction from the urban gorilla SUV'ers as they re-evaluate the need for a 4 wheel drive. Then I can move from a Middle Fork wanna be and join the ranks of NW Hiker adventurers.