Drivers Pumped Up Over Falling Fuel Prices Some Stations Drop Rates To 90 Cents A Gallon

Here’s something that should rev your motor: Gasoline prices in the Spokane area are continuing to fall.

On Wednesday, the Conoco station at Indiana and Ash was selling unleaded gas for 89.9 cents a gallon. Across the street, the Shell station had cut its price to 90.9 cents.

Ken Towner, owner of the Conoco, said he’s not sure how long he’ll be able to offer the cheap fuel, which is cutting into the station’s profit margin.

“Gas up today,” Towner said. “The situation can change really quick.”

Towner said the low price at his station has drawn extra traffic.

Gas prices are higher elsewhere in the Inland Northwest, and the difference sparked some protest in the Moscow-Pullman area.

A weekly survey by the Inland Automobile Association found unleaded gas prices in Spokane this week average about 98 cents a gallon. That’s a penny below last week’s average.

A separate report by the state automobile association found the average price of unleaded gas in central and Western Washington is about $1.03 a gallon.

Last year at this time, average prices were $1.15, although they were several cents lower in Spokane.

In North Idaho, many stations are selling unleaded gasoline for $1.03 to $1.05 a gallon.

Among the lowest was the Flying J Travel Plaza in Post Falls, where unleaded gas is 98.9 cents a gallon.

Blaine Colwell, manager of the Flying J, said he expects prices to increase during the next few months.

But crude oil prices are still depressed due to oversupply on world markets. This allows refineries to spend less and some savings are passed to retailers.

Some expect prices to increase as the heavier summer driving season approaches.

Tim Hamilton, executive director of the Automotive United Trade Organization in Olympia, said Western states are just now catching up with lower gas prices motorists have enjoyed elsewhere in the country. For example, stations in Oklahoma have been selling unleaded gas for less than 80 cents a gallon.

Hamilton noted that competition in the West is less intense than elsewhere.

Added Hamilton: “How long the 90 cents will stay, we don’t know, but probably not for long.”

While drivers in the Spokane area have benefited from gas price competition, some consumers on the Palouse have launched a protest aimed at Moscow and Pullman gas retailers, whose prices have been consistently 10 cents to 15 cents higher than Spokane and Lewiston prices. On Wednesday in Moscow, Conoco’s unleaded prices dropped to $1.08 a gallon and Chevron to $1.12 a gallon.

Moscow resident William Medlin, a development planning consultant, helped spark the inquiry by posting a message on a community e-mail bulletin board. More than 50 citizens responded, and many vowed to complain to local distributors. A few even suggested the local health food co-op look into selling gasoline retail.

“We are just looking at fairness,” Medlin said. “If crude has come down 25 percent since August and gas prices do not come down here, why should gas retailers and wholesalers not pass on some of the difference to the consumer? After all we support them.”

Historically, the two university towns have been an enclave for higher prices because without close competition gas retailers could informally agree to keep prices higher, Medlin said.

Go Farther Gas owner Ted Sharpe dropped his price for unleaded to $1.07 this week, the lowest in Moscow. There’s a combination of factors that increase Palouse-area prices, Sharpe said, but primarily it’s volume.

“Moscow doesn’t have the same kind of truck traffic and out-of-town traffic, it’s mostly local people so there’s not as much pressure to drop prices as low as they can go,” Sharpe said.