Gasoline tops $4 a gallon in Calais

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Gasoline tops $4 a gallon in Calais

Post by Outspoken on Thu May 22, 2008 5:29 am

Gasoline tops $4 a gallon in Calais
By Diana Graettinger
Staff Writer Bangor Daily News

CALAIS, Maine - Angela Howland wants to buy a horse and Gail Cottrell plans to ride her bike to work now that gasoline prices in this border community have topped the $4 mark for regular unleaded.

"It makes me sick," Howland said Wednesday.

"It hurts my wallet in a bad way," said the jewelry store employee. Then, as if the revelation had just occurred to her, she added, "I’m buying a horse."

Cottrell, who owns a local delicatessen, said, "If we all started walking in protest, we all might get healthy."

She said she plans to ride her bike the two miles to work. "My son-in-law got my bike out of the shed so I said ‘pump the tires’ and away I go."

Although prices for regular unleaded gasoline have been teetering just below the $4 mark for some time in Calais, the costs of the more expensive plus and premium gasolines have been over $4 a gallon for weeks. Analysts had predicted that regular unleaded would hit the $4 level this summer, but local residents were reeling Wednesday when the magic number was reached much earlier than anticipated.

A lot of local residents are blaming the high cost of fuel in Calais on the Canadians.

Canadians who are paying more than $4.90 (U.S.) a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline in neighboring New Brunswick are more than willing to tip their hat to customs officers as they cross the border into Calais to pay $4.02 a gallon.

But Calais residents were not alone in the U.S. in paying more than $4 a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline on Wednesday. The price of a gallon of regular was $4.27 in Chicago and $4.03 in New York City.

Still, drivers in other parts of Washington County and Maine were paying sub-$4 prices Wednesday. An informal poll showed a gallon of regular going for $3.87 in Perry, Pembroke and Whiting. Across the state, a gallon of regular was $3.74 in Augusta, $3.76 in Portland, $3.81 in Bangor and $3.99 in Caribou on Wednesday.

Statewide, the average price for unleaded gasoline was $3.819 a gallon on Wednesday, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. That price was 30 cents per gallon above last month’s average price and 60 cents above the average price recorded a year ago.

http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=164684&zoneid=500


(Bangor Daily News/Diana Graettinger)
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