Gas prices turning heads; up 35 cents in past week

    Gas prices have hit some of the highest levels ever.
    And, forecasts indicate they will go even higher.
    Thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, less oil production in the U.S. and a continued rise in inflation, prices have been taking 10-cent jumps instead of the cent or two people have seen in the past.
    In Imperial, the price for unleaded was $3.79 Monday. On Tuesday, it was up to $3.89 at one local station. Another listed unleaded at $3.92 Tuesday.
    GasBuddy’s survey of 1,150 stations in Nebraska shows average prices statewide rose 35.1 cents just in the last week.    
    The average price statewide Monday was $3.75, about 48 cents higher than a month ago, and $1.03 more than at this time in 2021.
    Dwight Coleman is an over-the-road truck driver who’s been driving since 1996. He’s also Imperial’s mayor.
    He said Tuesday he’s never seen anything like the current price situation.
    “I’ve not seen fuel this high or go up this fast,” he said.
    Since August, he’s been hauling livestock feed ingredients out of Lubbock, Texas which takes him 620 miles one way. He normally makes that trip twice a week.
    His fuel expense this week compared to last cost him $125 more, he said.
     After nearly reaching home on Monday, Coleman stayed overnight in McCook.
    He filled up with diesel at the FV Coop station there when he arrived for $4.34 a gallon. On Tuesday morning about 6 a.m., the price already had jumped to $4.60, he said.
    Coleman said as he was setting up the contract in Lubbock, he and the supplier knew prices were going to be rising.
    “But, we had no idea they would go this high,” he said.
    Their estimates of how high prices would reach were about $1.25 off so far, he said.
    He believes, like many do, that fuel is going to keep getting more expensive.
    “This is serious because our food and most everything we need comes in on a truck, and it’s going to cost more,” he said.
    If fuel gets high enough, he added, and the economy crashes, fuel will come down in price due to economics.
    “But, that’s a painful process,” he said.
    The city of Imperial and Chase County Schools are among entities that utilize a lot of vehicles.
    City Administrator Jo Leyland said she, too, hasn’t ever seen prices rise this quickly.
    However, from their perspective, there isn’t a lot city personnel can do to decrease fuel usage and still provide services.
    She believes they’ll be over budget in some areas, especially the police and public works departments.
    The police officers use a lot of fuel on their patrols in the community, Leyland noted.
    The public works employees use vehicles constantly, too, with even more use in the upcoming summer months as tasks in the parks and cemetery pick up, she said.
    If a department goes over budget in fuel dollars, Leyland said it may mean cutting things elsewhere.
    Fuel will likely be a topic at the mayor and council’s March 15 retreat, she said.
    Chase County Schools, which contracts its diesel and E-10 gasoline each fall, is in a pretty good place on its costs right now, said Supt. Adam Lambert.
    They locked in a $3.40 price last November for 13,500 gallons of diesel at $3.40 per gallon, and another 24.4 cents is deducted for gas taxes that public schools do not pay.
    CCS also contracted for 2,500 gallons of E-10 unleaded at $3.18 a gallon, minus the 18.4 cents for the fuel tax.
    Those contracted prices continue through Nov. 22, Lambert said.
    CCS maintains nine route busses, six vans, three activity busses and two staff cars.
    “Some years we are ahead, others we are behind,” he said.
    He recalled a time when he was employed at Cody-Kilgore Schools when fuel prices were a concern, but likely not at this level.
    GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis, said there are few words to describe the unprecedented rise in gas prices over the last week.
    “With massive spikes coast to coast in both gasoline and diesel prices, oil prices jumped to their highest since 2008,” he said.
    “Forget the $4 per gallon mark (unleaded). The nation will soon set new all-time record highs and we could push closer to a national average of $4.50 a gallon,” he predicted.
    “We’ve never been in this situation before, with this level of uncertainty. As we lose a major global producer under the weight of deserving bipartisan sanctions for invading a sovereign country, the cost is high,” he added.
    “Americans will be feeling the pain of the rise in prices for quite some time, with little good news foreseen,” he said.