So you think gas prices are coming down
By Michael Binstock
Acorn Automotive Editor

Troops are on their way home. The president went on TV to tell us that although the war isn’t legally over, the fighting is all but finished. And gas prices are coming down to where they used to be. Gotcha!

Okay, prices at the pump are now below that horrible $2 level in most places. According to the Automobile Club of Southern California in their Weekend Gas Watch, prices have now fallen for six consecutive weeks. According to AAA, the average price of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline in the Los Angeles area is $1.977 per gallon, which is 3.7 cents lower than last week’s price, 18 cents lower than last month and 36 cents higher than last year.

"Retail profits remain quite strong at this time, so it’s likely we’ll see stations competing for customers and that should push prices even lower, " said Carol Thorp, spokesperson for the Automobile Club of Southern California. "If the current conditions continue, prices could continue falling even into the Memorial Day weekend, which traditionally is a high demand time and considered the start of the summer driving season."

But is the dream of gas prices back below $1.50 a reality? I heard more complaints about price gouging and excess profits than on any other subject for many years. Most of the gripes seemed to come from drivers who will think nothing of crawling bumper to bumper on the 101 with only one person in the car, watching all the other vehicles with only one person on board.

Back to the gas prices. We’re just approaching spring and summer when gas prices start to creep up again. Summer means longer days, family outings, vacations, more driving, more demand for gas—and a bigger profit for the gas companies.

It also means oxygenated gasoline at the pump. This type of gas costs more. Why?

Section 211(k) of the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990, directs EPA to issue regulations that require gasoline to be "reformulated" in order to burn cleaner (i.e. to reduce emissions of ozone-forming [smog] and toxic air pollutants). Phase II RFG is designed to result in greater emissions reductions. RFG is required in the most severe ozone non-attainment areas of the country, like here. 

The gasoline is spiked with oxygen to comply with the rules and it causes prices to creep up just a little bit. How much? Who knows, but this wonderful subject of gas prices will be around for enough time to provide even more ink and ideas for even more columns.

Isn’t life wonderful?

To end on a piece of trivia, have you noticed that in many locations where there’s more than one gas station at an intersection Arco isn’t the cheapest? Both Shell and Exxon are giving them a run for the prices.

It seems that with the price of gas there’s only one thing that remains the same––it’s that nothing will ever remain the same.