![According to the American Automobile Association, as of Friday, Washington state drivers are paying an average of $4.67 a gallon for regular unleaded gas – 34 cents higher than a month ago.](https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Large_Clark-County-Today-Rising-fuel-prices-could-impact-road-trip-plans-for-Washingtonians.jpg)
Fuel prices are 34 cents higher than a month ago, making Washington’s gas prices the third highest in the nation
Carleen Johnson
The Center Square Washington
According to the American Automobile Association, as of Friday, Washington state drivers are paying an average of $4.67 a gallon for regular unleaded gas – 34 cents higher than a month ago, making Washington’s gas prices the third highest in the nation.
The nationwide average is $3.67 a gallon.
Several factors account for the Evergreen State’s painful price at the pump, including refineries switching to a more expensive blend of fuel in the spring and summer months and the rising price of crude oil.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration has raised its forecasts for oil prices for the rest of 2024 and into 2025.
EIA estimates oil prices will average $85.30 per barrel in the second quarter of this year and $86.84 per barrel in the third quarter before going down to $85.17 in the fourth quarter.
These higher prices will likely drive up costs not just for Washington motorists, but drivers throughout the nation.
Washington’s cap-and-trade program under the Climate Commitment Act is also a factor in Washington’s high gas prices.
The CCA was passed by the state Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2021. It established a cap-and-trade program requiring emitters to obtain “emissions allowances” equal to their covered greenhouse gas emissions. Similar to stocks and bonds, these allowances can be obtained through quarterly auctions, which started last year, hosted by the Department of Ecology.
Quarterly and special auctions have brought in more than $2 billion so far.
Critics of the program claim it raised gas prices in the state last year by up to 50 cents per gallon.
Voters will decide the fate of the program this November via Initiative 2117 to repeal the CCA and prohibit state agencies from implementing any type of carbon tax in place of the repealed CCA.
According to AAA’s metro average prices, the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett metropolitan area has the highest price for a gallon of gas in the state at $4.83 a gallon, while Clark, a city in southeastern Washington, has the lowest price at $4.15 a gallon.
This report was first published by The Center Square Washington.
Also read:
- Interstate Bridge Replacement program awarded $1.499 billion FHWA Bridge Investment Program grantInterstate Bridge Replacement program officials have shared that the program received $1.499 billion through the Federal Highway Administration’s Bridge Investment Program.
- Opinion: Has transit entered the “death spiral?”Transit ridership dropped sharply with the onset of the COVID pandemic in 2020. The slow rebound in the years that followed has prompted discussion, sometimes in hushed tones, as to whether transit had entered a “death spiral.”
- Nighttime delays on northbound I-5 in Vancouver July 14-25 for pavement repairsTravelers who use northbound Interstate 5 near northern Vancouver and Ridgefield should plan ahead for nighttime delays beginning the evening of Sunday, July 14 and continuing nightly through Thursday, July 25.
- New roundabout coming to SR 503 in northern Clark County this summerTravelers who use State Route 503 near Rock Creek Road just north of Battle Ground will soon experience a safer roadway that keeps people moving.
- Letter: ‘Do you want what’s happened to the city of Portland to happen in Clark County?’Washougal resident Mike Johnson discusses the transportation issues residents of Southwest Washington are facing.